Methods for detection of molecules with affinity for MPL polypeptides

ABSTRACT

Polypeptide of a growth factor receptor family, having a specific sequence and presenting all or part of the following properties: it encourages and/or is involved in the proliferation and/or differentiation of hematopoietic cell lines when obtained from the MPLV retrovirus; it is capable of acting as a hematopoietic growth factor receptor; it is recognized by antibodies directed against it. Polypeptides similar to the above. Applications in the diagnosis of the expression of said ligand polypeptide.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 08/309,259 filed on Sep. 20, 1994, now abandoned. Application No. 08/309,259 was a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 08/078,311 filed on Jun. 18, 1993 as a national stage application of PCT/FR90/00762 filed Oct. 14, 1990. The specification and drawings of application Ser. No. 08/309,259 are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to peptides and nucleic acids of the envelope region of the retrovirus MPLV, v-mpl, and the mammalian cellular counterparts, human and murine c-mpl. The invention further relates to recombinant vectors and recombinant cells containing v-mpl or c-mpl sequences, antibodies directed against v-mpl or c-mpl, and diagnostic methods and pharmaceutical compositions containing v-mpl or c-mpl.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Myeloproliferative diseases are diseases in which hematpoietic stem cells exhibit an impairment in their differentiation capacity and/or an impairment of their dependence on a specific growth factor.

Blood cells derive from a small number of stem cells capable of self-renewal which generate progenitor cells irreversibly committed to the production of one or a few hematopoietic lines. Precise control of each step of differentiation is necessary in order to ensure a stable level of the different specialized cells as well as to provide a precise response to stimulations caused by stress. The controls are usually due to the effect of interactions between cells, either resulting from contact with the hematopoietic micro-environment or from the release of specific cytokines. The breakdown of the control systems leads either to cytopenias or to an uncontrolled cellular proliferation which may affect one or more lines depending on the nature of the lesion. The proliferation of several hematopoietic lines may lead to a myeloproliferative disease. Such diseases can be induced by retroviruses carrying oncogenes such as the retrovirus MPLV, an abbreviation for "myeloproliferative leukemia virus" which is a retrovirus defective with respect to its replication.

It is known that the murine retrovirus MPLV causes a severe hematological disorder in adult mice of most strains, characterized by a dramatic proliferation and a differentiation of several hematopoietic lines. The most acute aspect of this disease is the suppression of the in vitro dependence on growth factors for most of the hematopoietic progenitor cells. The natural MPLV isolate has been described as being a complex of two viral entities: a murine virus F-MuLV (Friend replication competent ecotropic murine leukemia virus) and a virus defective with respect to its replication now designated by the term MPLV. The pseudotyping of the defective particles with other ecotropic or amphotropic MuLV viruses enables the initial disease to be reproduced. It has been shown that the proviral DNA of MPLV and the DNA of F-MuLV are structurally similar except in the envelope region.

The inventors have now identified a sequence of cellular origin transduced in the rearranged gene of the MPLV envelope and which proves to be conserved in the mammalian genome.

The identification of this sequence has enabled its importance in phenomena which have similarities with a myeloproliferative disease to be demonstrated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention thus relates to a polypeptide capable of playing a role when it is produced by a virus of the MPLV type in the disturbances caused during myeloproliferative diseases. The invention also relates to nucleotide sequences coding for this polypeptide.

The inventors have made the very interesting observation that the protein sequence of the polypeptide of the invention exhibits pronounced analogies with certain amino acid sequences of growth factor receptors. Consequently, the invention makes possible the identification of the mechanisms of the disease linked to the infection by the retrovirus MPLV and suggests agents for the detection of a disease of the same type in man and, optionally, for its treatment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIGS. 1A-B: (A) Restriction map of the clone MPLV 107 and clone F-MuLV 57 obtained by digestion with restriction endonucleases. The restriction sites for the following enzymes are designated as follows: B:BamHI, C:ClaI, E:EcoRI, H:HindIII, K:KpnI, P:PstI, Pv:PvuII, SI:SacI, SII:SacII, X:XbaI. The thick black line corresponds to the region specific to MPLV. The two probes derived from the MPLV envelope gene are shown by the thick black lines below the restriction map.

(B-D) Demonstration of the specificity of the probes derived from the MPLV envelope by northern analysis. Poly A⁺ RNA was obtained from NIH 3T3 cells infected with the amphotropic 4070 pseudotype of MPLV (5 μg, lanes A) or with the clone F-MuLV 57 (1 μg, lanes B), and the non-producing Mus dunni clone 2 infected with MPLV (15 μg, lanes C). The Northern blot was then hybridized with the probe E57BS derived from the envelope of F-MuLV, labeled according to the nick-translation procedure (FIG. 1B), or with the two RNA probes derived from the envelope of MPLV, SacI-PstI (FIG. 1C) and PstI-PstI (FIG. 1D). The lambda/HindIII DNA molecular weight marker is present in lane M of all three FIG. 1B-D. The black arrows and the open arrows indicate the positions of the genomic and subgenomic RNA of the envelope of F-MuLV and MPLV, respectively.

FIGS. 2A and B: (A) Schematic representation of the rearranged env region of MPLV (SEQ ID NO:24). The hatched box represents mpl, the open boxes represent the env sequences of F-MuLV. The asterisk in the mpl domain indicates the stop codon.

(B) The amino acid sequence deduced for the env region of MPLV (SEQ ID NO:24). In the 284 amino acid reading frame, amino acids 1 to 100 correspond to the sequences derived from the env gene of F-MuLV. The 184 amino acids specific for mpl are indicated in the boxes. The arrow heads indicate the junction with the specific mpl sequence, respectively. The asterisks indicate the potential N-glycosylation sites (Asn-X-Ser/Thr). The underlined sequences represent the signal peptide of gp70, and the hydrophobic transmembrane domain is written in bold letters.

FIG. 3: Southern analysis of DNA from a variety of species, or Zoo blot, is provided. The blot was prepared with 10 μg of high molecular weight DNA, digested with EcoRi, from ICFW mice (lane 1), Mus spretus (lane 2), rat (lane 3), mink (lane 4), cow (lane 5), dog (lane 6), and human (lane 7), and was hybridized with the RNA probes SacI-PstI and PstI-PstI under stringent conditions and washed according to the procedure described in the "Experimental procedures".

FIG. 4: Expression of c-mpl in different organs of the mouse. A Northern blot prepared from RNA poly A⁺ (5 μg) of mouse brain (lane 1), liver (lane 2), salivary gland (lane 3), spleen (lane 4), kidney (lane 5), testicles (lane 6), thymus (lane 7), and fetal liver (lane 8) was hybridized with the RNA probes SacI-PstI and PstI-PstI. The conditions of hybridization and washing are described in the "Experimental procedures".

FIG. 5: Establishment of in vitro cells lines infected by MPLV. The bone marrow cells of normal C57BL/6 mice were infected in vitro with MPLV uncontaminated with auxiliary virus. The circles represent the mean values ± standard deviation of the non-adhesive cells for five infected cultures (black circles) or five control cultures (white circles). The transfers of non-adhesive cell populations are shown by dashes.

FIG. 6: Southern blot analysis of the proviral integration sites in the cultures infected with MPLV. The DNAs were obtained from the cell lines L159, L173 and L223, at 5, 21, and 97 days after the infection and were digested with EcoRI. Southern blots were prepared from the DNAs and hybridized with the SacI-PstI and PstI-PstI RNA probes of v-mpl. On day 97, L159 contained myeloblasts, L173 mastocytes, L223 megacaryocytes and erythbroblasts. The arrow indicates -mpl.

FIG. 7: Comparison of the amino acid sequences of the extracellular domain of v-mpl (SEQ ID NO:25) with that of the receptors for the hematopoietic cytokines. The extracellular domains of the receptor for murine IL-3 (SEQ ID NOS:26 and 27), the murine receptor for EPO (SEQ ID NO:28), the murine receptor for IL-4 (SEQ ID NO:29), the beta chain of the receptor for IL-2 (SEQ ID NO:30), the human receptor for IL-6 (SEQ ID NO:31), and the human and murine receptors for IL-7 (SEQ ID NOS:32 and 33, respectively) were aligned with v-mpl. The conserved amino acid residues are placed in boxes. The consensus sequence (SEQ ID NO:34) is that which was described by Itoh et al. 1990 (Science, Vol. 247, p. 324-327).

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The invention thus relates to a polypeptide characterized in that it corresponds to the amino acid sequence designated by SEQ ID NO:1 in the list of sequences, i.e., in that it comprises SEQ ID NO:1 or a fragment of this sequence provided that the polypeptide meets at least one of the following conditions:

a) when it is produced from the genome of the retrovirus MPLV, it is capable of causing and/or promoting in vitro and in vivo the proliferation of the hematopoietic cell lines,

b) it is implicated in vitro or in vivo in the cellular differentiation of hematopoietic cell lines when it is produced from the genome of the MPLV retrovirus,

c) it is capable of intervening in vivo in a function of a receptor for a hematopoietic growth factor, either at the level of the binding of a ligand, or at the level of signal transmission,

d) it is recognized by antibodies directed against the amino acid sequence shown in the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or also in that it is an amino acid sequence exhibiting a homology of at least 80% , and preferably 88%, with the fragment represented by SEQ ID NO:2, contained in the amino acid of sequence SEQ ID NO:1.

The capacity of a given polypeptide to behave as a growth factor receptor can be characterized by implementing one of the following tests.

The invention makes it possible to detect the potential capacity of a polypeptide of the invention to behave like a receptor and to bind a ligand. It is equally possible to investigate whether the expression of the test polypeptide by the MPLV virus previously modified by the nucleotide sequence coding for this polypeptide, integrated at the site usually containing the nucleotide sequence v-mpl, leads to the in vitro proliferation of cells transformed with MPLV containing the test polypeptide.

The conditions for carrying out this test are those used for the experiments reported hereafter, which correspond to the immortalization of bone marrow cells in culture by MPLV.

In order to detect whether a nucleotide sequence which codes for a polypeptide of the invention is capable of being implicated in signal transmission, it is possible to modify MPLV at the site which usually contains the sequence v-mpl by a nucleotide sequence of the invention from which a selected nucleotide fragment, whose possible role in signal transmission it is desired to determine, has previously been removed. MPLV thus modified may be infected, for example, with bone marrow cells in accordance with what is described in the examples. It is then observed whether the elimination of the nucleotide fragment, referred to above, leads to the absence of cellular proliferation.

Another test to detect whether a polypeptide of the invention behaves as a receptor capable of both binding a selected molecule and of transmitting a signal after binding this molecule is the following:

Cells not naturally expressing the test polypeptide are transformed with the latter. The cells thus transformed are placed in the presence of a selected molecule capable of behaving as a ligand and their capacity to respond to this molecule is determined, in particular, by observing whether there is cellular proliferation or not.

Particularly useful peptides complying with the definition of the invention previously given are, for example, polypeptides comprising an amino acid sequence WSXWS (SEQ ID NO:21), in which X is any amino acid and preferably X corresponds to arginine or serine.

The sequence WSAWS (SEQ ID NO:22) corresponds to the fragment comprised in v-mpl or in the equivalent sequence in the mouse, and the sequence WSSWS (SEQ ID NO:23) corresponds to the h-mpl fragment of the human cell gene.

In a very interesting manner it has been noted that the peptide WSXWS (SEQ ID NO:21) may be implicated in the in vivo differentiation effect of hematopoietic lines, observed when they are infected by a MPLV retrovirus.

The invention also relates to all of the polypeptides satisfying the preceding conditions and capable of inducing or taking part in the in vitro cellular differentiation of hematopoietic lines.

Other preferred polypeptides according to the invention are peptides characterized in that they are composed of an amino acid sequence corresponding to the sequence identified in the list of the sequences under the reference SEQ ID NO:3.

Preferred polypeptides complying with the general definition above are the polypeptides corresponding to one of the sequences identified under the following references SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:8, SEQ ID NO:9, SEQ ID NO:10, SEQ ID NO:11.

Another polypeptide according to the invention is characterized in that it is encoded in a nucleotide sequence capable of hybridizing under stringent conditions with the specific probes for MPLV, corresponding to the fragments SacI-PstI and PstI-PstI of 300 base pairs each shown in FIG. 1A.

The probes may be DNA probes or RNA probes.

Also included in the framework of the invention is a polypeptide encoded in a nucleotide sequence capable of hybridizing with one of the preceding probes.

The invention also relates to a polypeptide included in the preceding definitions, characterized in that it corresponds to one of the amino acid sequences identified in the list of sequences by the following references SEQ ID NO:12, SEQ ID NO:13.

The invention relates in addition to a growth factor receptor, characterized in that it is composed of the amino acid sequence identified as SEQ ID NO:1.

The invention also relates to a soluble form of the receptor consisting in particular of the extracellular domain represented by the polypeptide sequence designated by SEQ ID NO:7 in man or SEQ ID NO:10 in the mouse.

Also forming part of the invention are fusion proteins, characterized in that they are composed of a polypeptide of the invention in combination with a defined amino acid sequence, in particular with the gp70 of MPLV, in particular in that it is the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:14.

Other fusion proteins may be obtained with the protein encoded in the gag gene or with glycoprotein of a virus, for example, other than a retrovirus, in particular a glycoprotein of VSV.

The invention also relates to a nucleotide sequence characterized in that it codes for a polypeptide described above.

Preferred nucleotide sequences are those which correspond to any one of the nucleotide sequences SEQ ID NO:15, NO:16, NO:17, NO:18, NO:19, NO:20 or to a sequence complementary to these sequences or also to a sequence capable of hybridizing with one of the above sequences under stringent conditions. Also included in the framework of the invention are the nucleotide sequences constituted by RNA and which correspond to the nucleotide sequences described above.

The invention also relates to a recombinant cell host, characterized in that it includes a nucleotide sequence such as given above. Preferably the nucleotide sequence inserted in the cell host is integrated into the genome of this host. Different cell hosts may be selected for carrying out the invention according to the desired use. As examples it will be possible to use cell hosts such as bacteria, viruses or phages, insect or mammalian cells (COS, CHO), etc . . . for the study of molecules possibly exhibiting an affinity for the polypeptides of the invention.

A particularly preferred cell host is the MPLV virus. In particular, the invention relates to the MPLV virus containing in its genome a nucleotide sequence coding for the peptide represented by the sequence SEQ ID NO:2 in the form of a fusion protein with the viral glycoprotein gp70.

The invention also relates to recombinant vectors characterized in that they contain a nucleotide sequence, such as described previously, inserted at a site inessential for replication under the control of regulatory sequences necessary for its expression in the specified cell host.

Particularly suitable vectors for caring out the invention are, for example, the vaccinia virus or the baculovirus.

Also forming part of the invention are nucleotide probes consisting of at least 9 nucleotides and preferably 15 to 30 nucleotides, capable of hybridizing with a nucleotide sequence of the invention under stringent conditions, this probe being optionally labelled.

The probes used may be specific for the nucleotide sequences of the invention or unspecific for them when a sequence belonging to a larger group is studied.

Suitable markers for preparing the probes of the invention are standard radioactive markers or also enzymatic markers or any other appropriate marker.

Furthermore the invention relates to monoclonal or polygonal antibodies, characterized in that they recognize one of the polypeptides according to the invention.

Particularly useful antibodies are directed against the extracellular domain of the polypeptide encoded in the c-mpl gene.

These antibodies are obtained according to the standard methods for producing antibodies. For the preparation of monoclonal antibodies in particular, recourse will be had to the method of Kohler and Milstein; in particular, monoclonal antibodies are prepared by cell fusion between myeloma cells and spleen cells of mice previously immunized with a polypeptide according to the invention, in conformity with the standard procedure.

The identification by the inventors of the polypeptide in the MPLV virus responsible for the myeloproliferative disease makes possible the development of agents for the in vitro detection of an abnormal expression of a polypeptide described in the preceding pages, revealing a pathological condition.

For this purpose the invention includes a procedure for the in vitro detection of an abnormal expression of a polypeptide of the invention, characterized in that it comprises:

the placing of a biological sample likely to contain the desired polypeptide in contact with antibodies such as defined previously,

the detection of an immunological reaction of the antigen-antibody type.

By "abnormal expression" of the polypeptide is meant any quantitatively abnormal expression, as well as any expression of a modified polypeptide whose function may be impaired.

Another procedure for the in vitro detection of the abnormal expression of a polypeptide of the invention may be performed by the in vitro detection of the abnormal expression of a nucleotide sequence coding for a peptide according to the invention. Such a procedure comprises:

a) the placing of a biological sample likely to contain the nucleotide sequence under investigation and to be used as a template in contact with a nucleotide primer capable of hybridizing with the nucleotide sequence under investigation in the presence of the 4 different nucleoside triphosphates and a polymerizing agent under hybridization conditions such, that for each nucleotide sequence which has hybridized with a primer, an elongation product of each primer is formed complementary to the template;

b) the separation of the template and the elongation product obtained, this latter then also being capable of acting as a template;

c) the repetition of step a) so as to obtain a detectable amount of the desired nucleotide sequences;

d) the detection of the amplification product of the nucleotide sequences.

Details concerning the implementation of the PCR procedure are given for example in the patent applications EP 0200362 and EP 0229701.

The invention also relates to a kit for the in vitro detection of the abnormal expression of the polypeptides according to the invention, characterized in that it contains monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies capable of reacting with the said polypeptide and, optionally, a reagent for the detection of the antigen-antibody immunological reaction.

Such a kit may be used for the performance of different types of assays, in particular RIA and ELISA assays.

The invention also relates to a procedure for the detection of the affinity of a molecule for a polypeptide according to the invention, characterized by:

the placing of the test molecule in contact with a cell host modified beforehand by a nucleotide sequence according to the invention under conditions allowing the expression of this sequence so as to obtain a polypeptide according to the invention bearing at least one site capable of interacting with the test molecule and exposed at the surface of the cell host;

the detection of the formation of a complex between the test molecule and the polypeptide.

Furthermore the invention relates to a medicine characterized in that it contains a polypeptide complying with the preceding definitions in a soluble form, in combination with an acceptable pharmaceutical vehicle. Such a medicine can be used to remedy the abnormal production of the polypeptides of the invention in the cells of a patient.

The medicine according to the invention can act according to a competition reaction between the soluble form of a polypeptide present as an active ingredient in this medicine and the polypeptides present abnormally in the patient treated.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention are presented in the examples which follow.

EXAMPLES

Molecular cloning of the MPLV provirus

The following experiments refer to the identification and characterization of the molecular rearrangements taking place at the envelope of the retrovirus MPLV.

In order to characterize the rearranged region of the env gene, a cDNA library was prepared by using the RNA poly A⁺ of the NIH 3T3 cells modified productively with the amphotropic pseudotype of MPLV. The cDNA clones comprising the complete env region of MPLV were obtained and two specific MPLV probes were prepared: they were SacI-PstI and PstI-PstI fragments, each of 300 base pairs (FIG. 1A). The specificity of these two MPLV probes is shown in FIG. 1B-D. They recognize the genomic RNAs (7.4 kb) and the subgenomic RNAs obtained by splicing (2.4 kb) but do not hybridize with F-MuLV or with amphotropic RNAs.

In order to clone a biologically active MPLV provirus, a genomic library was prepared from non-producing Mus dunni cell clones containing a single copy of the MPLV provirus (Penciolelli et al., 1987). Of the 1.5×10⁶ recombinant phages screened with the two specific MPLV probes, a single clone was obtained (MPLV 107). Restriction analyses have shown that this clone contains the complete genome of MPLV with the exception of the LTR 3' part (FIG. 1A).

In order to demonstrate that this molecular entity was responsible for the characteristics of the acute myeloproliferative disease caused by MPLV, a complete provirus was constructed by ligation of MPLV 107 to the clone F-MuLV 57 3' LTR. The resulting construction (MPLV3) was cotransfected with the DNA of the auxillary virus F-MuLV into the NIH 3T3 cells in a molar ration of 10/1 (MPLV3/F-MuLV). After several cell passages, the viral supernatant was injected intravenously into young adult DBA/2 mice known for their resistance to early erythroleukemia induced by F-MuLV (Ruscetti et al., 1981, J.Exp. Med, 154, 907-920).

The animals inoculated with the supernatant of the cultures transfected with the DNA of F-MuLV alone were healthy 6 months after infection. On the other hand, all of the mice inoculated with the supernatant of the cultures transfected with the DNAs of MPLV3 and F-MuLV rapidly developed a splenomegaly, a hyperleukocytosis and a polycythemia and were dead two months after the inoculation. The progenitor cells of the sick animals were then examined in vitro in order to determine their needs in terms of hematopoietic growth factors. 100% of the late progenitor cells of the red cells (erythroid colony forming units) formed hemoglobinised erythrocyte colonies without the addition of erythropoietin (EPO) whereas 62% of the cells forming the CFU-C colonies in the spleen and 30% of the CFU-C in the bone marrow proliferated and differentiated without the exogenous addition of factors which stimulate the colonies. They led to mature colonies of granulocytes, monocytes, megacaryocytes, erythrocytes and to multipotent colonies containing different cell lines.

Thus the clone MPLV3 was biologically active and its properties could not be distinguished from those of the original MPLV isloate.

Sequence and structure of the env region of MPLV

The rearranged env genes of the cDNAs of MPLV and of the genomic clone were sequenced and proved to be identical. The nucleotide sequence was analysed showing that the env gene of MPLV comprises sequences derived from the env gene of F-MuLV and non-viral sequences. As is illustrated in FIG. 2A two deletions have appeared in the env gene of F-MuLV: the first between the positions 5969 and 6505 and the second between positions 6615 and 7513 (Koch et al., 1983, J. Virol. 45, 1-9). The env gene of MPLV is thus a complex region composed between the 5' and 3' ends of 191 base pairs of the 5' end of the env gene of F-MuLV (up to position 5969) followed by 110 base pairs of the central region of the env gene of F-MuLV (between the positions 6506 and 6615), then by a non-viral region of 623 nucleotides and finally the 3' part of the 15E protein of F-MuLV (starting from position 7513).

The env gene of MPLV has an open reading frame of 284 amino acids starting from the initiation codon ATG of gp70 and terminating at the stop codon TAG within the sequence specific for MPLV (FIG. 2B) and codes potentially for a env fusion protein with a molecular weight of 31 kilodaltons. This env-vmpl fusion protein comprises 64 amino acids of the NH₂ -terminal part of the gp70 of F-MuLV including the signal peptide, 36 amino acids of the central region of the env of F-MuLV and 184 amino acids specific to MPLV.

A hydrophobicity curve (Kyte et al., 1982, J. Mol. Biol. 157, 105-132) of the amino acid sequence of the product of the env gene of MPLV revealed, in addition to the 34 hydrophobic amino acids of the signal peptide of the gp70, that the domain specific to MPLV contains a region of 22 uncharged amino acids extending from the amino acid I1e at position 143 to the amino acid Leu at position 165, which may correspond to a membrane domain. The natural env protein of MPLV would thus be constituted of an extracellular domain of 109 amino acids with a potential glycosylation site, a transmembrane domain of 22 amino acids and an intracytoplasmic domain of 119 amino acids without a sequence for a kinase activity (Hanks et al., 1988, Science vol. 241, p.42-52).

A search of the EMBL data (nucleic acids and proteins) showed that the sequence specific for MPLV, designated by v-mpl, does not correspond to a gene identified up to now.

env region of MPLV containing a unique highly conserved cell sequence in mammals

The presence of a possible c-mpl locus in the mouse, rat, mink, cow, dog and in humans was investigated. The hybridization of the DNA digested by EcoRI with the two RNA probes of v-mpl led to the detection of clear-cut bands under stringent conditions of hybridization, indicating the presence of a cellular counterpart (c-mpl) to the v-mpl sequence in the 6 species tested (FIG. 3).

The expression of c-mpl was then investigated in different tissues of the mouse. Northern blots of RNA poly A⁺ prepared from fetal liver and from different organs of the adult mouse was hybridized with v-mpl RNA probes. As is shown in FIG. 4 a single band of mRNA of 3.0 kb could be detected in the adult spleen (lane 4) and in fetal liver (lane 8). A similar transcript was also present in the bone marrow. On the other hand, no transcript was detected in the brain, liver, salivary glands, kidney, testicles or thymus of adult mice.

The leukemogenic properties of MPLV can thus be attributed to the presence of a novel oncogene, v-mpl, transduced from cellular sequences conserved in the phylogeny of the mammals and transcribed in normal mouse hematopoietic tissues.

MPLV transforms hematopoietic progeny in vitro

In order to determine whether MPLV could directly transform hematopoietic cells and in order to analyse the nature of the target cells of the virus, bone marrow cells were infected in vitro with MPLV uncontaminated with auxiliary virus, obtained in a packaging cell line psi-CRE (Danos and Mulligan, 1988, P.N.A.S. USA 85, 6460-6464). The test was carried out in an agarose medium with a low concentration of cells in order to avoid stimulating the formation of colonies by endogenous factors secreted by helper cells. In repeated experiments only a few autonomous colonies were detected. However, when the infection was carried out with bone marrow cells enriched in immature progenitor cells induced to divide by a pretreatment of the mice with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (Hodgson and Bradley, 1979, Nature vol. 281, p. 381-382) colonies developed spontaneously in significant numbers. About half were colonies of a single line such as colonies of megacaryocytes of granulocytes or erythroid colonies. The other colonies were mixed colonies, about 20% of which represented three or more lines of differentiation. Subculturing experiments of colonies containing one or two lines of differentiation did not lead to the production of secondary colonies which indicates that these colonies resulted from progeny irreversibly committed to differentiation. On the other hand, more than 65% of the colonies containing several lines of differentiation (12/18) produced a variable number of secondary colonies (from 7 to 286) expressing one or two lines of differentiation but also macroscopic colonies in which at least three lines were present. Some of these colonies (3/18) produced mixed tertiary colonies. This indicates that MPLV is capable of promoting the proliferation and the terminal differentiation of both multipotent cell strains and progenitor cells already committed to differentiation.

MPLV immortalizes bone marrow cells in culture and induces their differentiation

When bone marrow cells infected by MPLV and obtained from normal mice or mice pretreated with 5-FU are placed in culture, a 10 to 20 fold increase in the percentage of the frequency of progenitor cells was observed in the same time as an increase in the percentage of colonies independent of growth factors. The growth of such cultures is shown in FIG. 5. Whereas cells in the uninfected cultures had low growth, the cells infected by MPLV contained non-adhesive cells which divided rapidly and which may be transferred to new flasks adhesive nurse stromal cells. The cells continued to proliferate by forming permanent cell lines growing in suspension and containing erythroblasts in the terminal phase of differentiation, megacaryocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes in association with immature blast cells. When these cells are cultivated on semi-solid medium, different types of autonomous colonies containing mature cells develop.

Four to six weeks after infection the majority of the cell lines developed towards a more restricted phenotype which appeared to remain stable for months in continuous culture. A morphological examination of the cells in suspension and of the colonies obtained on a semi-solid medium has shown that, of the 24 lines, one line remained multipotent, five contained mature megacaryocytes and hemoglobinized erythroblasts, five were composed of megacaryocytic cells, five were mastocytes, four of the myelomonocytic cells, two contained erythroblastic cells in the process of differentiation and two corresponded to immature blast cells. Experiments were carried out to determine whether these culture were of the monoclonal or polyclonal type. The result obtained is that these permanent cell lines are obtained starting from the growth of a single or a few multipotent strains infected by MPLV, in which the restriction of the capacities of differentiation occurs at a later stage. The malignant character of the cell lines was demonstrated by subcutaneously injecting 2×10⁶ cells into syngenic mice irradiated with a sublethal dose (5 Gy) of radiation or into nude mice. A tumor did not develop at the site of inoculation when the cells obtained from a less than 4 months old culture were injected but 6 of the 10 cell lines inoculated after more than 7 months produced hematopoietic tumors of the nature of those cells lines injected after a latency period of about 30 days.

In order to investigate whether the autonomous growth of the cells resulted from the production of a growth factor, supplemental media for different cell lines, concentrated 10 times, were tested on the indicator cell line FDC-P1 (Dexter et al., 1980, J. Exp. Med. 152, 1036-1047). No incorporation of ³ H thymidine could be detected. Continuous growth was thus not sustained by the secretion of IL3 or GM-CSF. In addition, Northern blot analyses did not reveal the mRNA of IL3, GM-CSF, G-CSF or EPO in twelve cell lines examined except in the case of one cell line which expressed GM-CSF mRNA.

Thus, these observations indicate that MPLV alone is capable of directly transforming multipotential hematopoietic progenitors committed to differentiation and leads to the rapid emergence of different immortalized cell lines independent of growth factors which maintain the capacity to differentiate spontaneously.

The experiments previously described have shown that the pathogenicity of MPLV was not due to major modifications in its LTR part. The analysis of the sequence of the env region of MPLV showed that the env gene of MPLV did not contain sequences related to sequences of the MCF virus but that on sequence of 1.5 kb of the envelope of F-MuLV was deleted and replaced by a novel non-viral sequence of 0.7 kb which did not exhibit homology with known genes. This novel sequence, v-mpl, is of cellular origin and is conserved among the mammals including man. The proto-oncogenic c-mpl is transcribed in the form of a mRNA of 3.0 kb in the spleen of the adult mouse and in the bone marrow and in the fetal liver. c-mpl is located on chromosome 4 of the mouse and on human chromosome 1-p34.

The polypeptide env-mpl exhibits the general characteristics of a transmembrane protein: it contains the signal peptide of gp70 at its N-terminus and a unique transmembrane domain; indicating that the N-terminal part of the molecule is extracellular and the C-terminal part is intracellular. The amino acid sequence of the extracellular domain of the v-mpl protein exhibits similarities to the hematopoietic receptors of the cytokines recently cloned such as the beta chain of IL2R, IL3R, IL4R, IL6R, IL7R, GM-CSFR, G-CFSR, EPO-R, as it does to the prolactin receptor. Thus this sequence contains a motif W S X W S in the extracellular domain close to the transmembrane region and does not contain a consensus sequence for a protein kinase activity in the intracytoplasmic domain. It has also been observed that the cytoplasmic domain of v-mpl contains many proline (14/119, 12%) and serine (13/119, 11%) residues, as is the case for other receptors. The result is that MPLV has transduced a truncated form of a receptor for a hematopoietic growth factor. The expression of the endogenous c-mpl gene observed uniquely in spleen cells, the bone marrow and fetal liver confirms this hypothesis.

Experimental Procedures

Cells, viruses and mice

NIH 3T3 and Mus dunni cells were used. The isolation of the clone 2 of Mus dunni, a non-producer of MPLV, was described in the publication by Penciolelli et al., 1987 (J. Virol. 61, 579-583). The amphotropic MPLV pseudotype was obtained in superinfecting clone 2 of Mus dunni with the amphotropic helper virus 4070A (Chattopadhyay et al., 1981; J. Virol. 39, 777-791).

DBA/2J, C57BL/6J and nude mice were obtained from Iffa Credo (1'Arbesle, France) and reared under pathogen-free conditions. Six to eight week old animals were used in all of the experiments.

Preparation of the RNA and Northern blot analysis

The total RNA was purified according to the guanidium thiocyanate/CsCl method (Chirgwin et al., 1979; Biochemistry 18, 5294-5299) and poly A⁺ RNA was selected by chromatography on an oligo dT-cellulose column.

In the case of the Northern blot analysis, 5 μg RNA poly A⁺ were denatured in a glyoxal buffer according to McMaster and Carmichael, 1977 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74, 4835-4838). The electrophoresis was carried out in 1.1% agarose gels in 10 mM Na/Na₂ phosphate buffer. The RNA transfers were carried out on nitrocellulose Hybond C-extra (Amersham) as described by Thomas, 1980 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77, 5201-5205). The membranes were prehybridized for 5 hours at 55° C. in 50% formamide, 4×SSC, 0.05M Na/Na₂ phosphate, 1×Denhardt, 500 μg/ml yeast tRNA and 250 μg/ml of herring sperm DNA. 10⁷ cpm of an RNA probe labelled with ³² P were added and hybridization was carried out for 40 hours at 55° C. The membranes were washed twice for 5minutes at room temperature in 2×SSC-0.1% SDS, twice for 30 minutes at 65° C. in 2×SSC-0.1% SDS and twice for 30 minutes at 65° C. in 0.1×SSC-0.1% SDS.

Southern blot analysis

The DNAs were digested with suitable restriction endonucleases under the conditions indicated by the manufacturer and loaded on to a 0.8% agarose gel. After electrophoresis, the DNAs were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes according to the method of Southern (1975; J. Mol. Biol. 98, 503-518). The membranes were hybridized with 10⁷ cpm of probes labelled with ³² P under conditions described for Northern blot.

Construction of the cDNA library for the MPLV envelope

The cDNA was synthesized from the RNA poly A⁺ prepared from NIH 3T3 cells in the exponential phase of growth, productively infected with MPLV pseudotyped by the helper amphotropic virus 4070 A (MPLV comprising the envelope of the 4070 A virus) by using the Amersham kit of synthetic cDNAs. Blunted ended cDNAs were ligated to a dephosphorylated vector pSPT18 digested with SmaI in the presence of T4 DNA ligase.

Competent LM 1035 bacteria were transformed and spread on agar plates containing ampicillin. The colonies conning the recombinant plasmids were transferred to nitrocellulose filters. The identification of the clones containing the cDNA for the envelope (env) of MPLV was performed by in situ hybridization as described by Sambrook et al., 1989 (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press), with a probe E57BS (Moreau-Gachelin et al., 1983 Biochimie 65, 259-266), labelled with ³² P by means of the "nick-translation" procedure.

Construction of the genomic library of MPLV

High molecular weight DNA was extracted according to Souyri et al., 1983 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80, 6676-6679) from clone 2 of Mus dunni, a non-producer of MPLV, and partially digested with the restriction endonuclease Sau3A. The DNA fragments (10 to 15 kb) were purified by means of centrifugation on a sucrose gradient and ligated with BamHI arms of the bacteriophage EMBL3 after encapsidation (Stratagene). After in vitro encapsulation (Gigapack, Stratagene), the recombinant phages containing the DNA of MPLV were identified according to the procedure of Benton et al., 1977 (Science 196, 180-182) by hybridization with RNA probes specific for MPLV. The filters were prebybridized for 5 hours at 42° C. in 50% formamide, 5×SSC, 5×Denhardt, 0.1% SDS, 50 mM of Na/Na₂ phosphate pH 6.5 and 250 μg/ml of herring sperm (2 ml per filter). The hybridization with RNA probes of MPLV, labelled with ³² P was performed for 20 hours at 42° C. in 50% formamide, 5×SSC, 1×Denhardt, 0.1% SDS, 50 mM of Na/Na₂ phosphate pH 6.5 and 250 μg/ml of herring sperm (1 ml of buffer and 2×10⁶ cpm of RNA probe per filter). The filters were washed twice for 10 minutes at room temperature in 2×SSC-0.1% SDS, 30 minutes with 2×SSC-0.1% SDS, and twice for 30 minutes with 0.2×SSC-0.1% SDS, each time at 65° C.

Sequencing of the DNA

The sequencing of DNA was performed by using the dideoxy chain termination method (Sanger et al., 1977; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74, 5463-5467) modified for use with the T7 DNA polymerase (Sequenase USB). The samples were denatured for 2 minutes at 75° C. and loaded onto a denaturing acrylamide gel (6% acrylamide, 8M urea, 1×TBE).

The analysis of sequences, the comparison of the nucleotide and protein sequences between n and the genes included in the EMBL library were made by using the FASTP programmes (Lipman et al., 1985; Science 227, 1435-1441) and PC-GENE (Intelligenetics Inc. and Genofit SA).

In vitro Infection of hematopoietic cells and establishment of cell lines

Cell clones producing MPLV but lacking a helper virus were obtained by cotransfection of psi-CRE packaging cells with the plasmid pSV2 Neo and about a 10-fold excess of the plasmid pMPLV3. After selection and isolation of clones resistant to G418 (Gibco BRL), the clones producing MPLV were selected by blotting the whole cells according to Wendling et al., 1989 (Leukemia 3, 475-480). The blots of the virus purified from the supernatants were used to select a clone producing a high titer of virus. 5million normal bone marrow cells or 1.5×10⁶ cells of adult male C57BL/6 mice pretreated with 5-fluorouracil (15 mg/kg body weight, 4 days before) were suspended in 1 ml of infectious supernatant. The incubation was performed for 2 hours at 37° C. in an atmosphere containing 5% CO₂ in air. The cells were then placed on a semi-solid medium or cultivated at a concentration of 2.5×10⁶ cells/ml in 25 cm² culture flasks containing 8 ml of Dulbecco medium modified according to Iscove (IMDM) supplemented with 20% of beat-inactivated fetal calf serum (Flow Laboratories). After 10 to 12 days non-adhesive cells were recovered and transferred at a concentration of 2.5×10⁵ cells/ml into new flasks containing fresh medium. The cells were then passed every 4 to 7 days or more frequently, depending on the extent of cell growth.

Tests on the progenitor cells

In the case of the CFU-E colonies, the cells were inoculated in a plasma coagulum culture system such as that described by McLeod et al., 1978 (M. J. Murphy, ed--springer Verlag, New York--pp 31-35). A suitable number of cells was distributed in a volume of 0.1 ml with or without 0.25 U/ml Epo (erythropoietin) (Stage 1 human EPO, specific activity 1000 U/mg; Terry Fox Laboratory, Vancouver, Canada). The cultures were harvested on day 2. The colonies containing at least 8 erythroblasts positive to benzidine were listed as CFU-E colonies.

In the case of the CFU-C colonies the tests were performed in 0.5ml of agarose (Seaplaque agarose, FMC) in cultures on Linbro plates (CT-CV 96) according the method of McLeod et al., 1978, previously mentioned. In the case of the control cultures, the formation of colonies was stimulated maximally by the addition of 5% (vol./vol.) of a supplemented medium prepared from spleen cells stimulated with a mitogen (PWMSCM) and 1 U/ml Epo. The cultures were incubated in an atmosphere of saturating humidity containing 5% CO₂. After incubation for 7 days, the cultures were withdrawn from the wells, placed on glass slides and fixed in phosphate buffer containing 5% glutaraldehyde (pH 7), stained with either benzidine, myeloperoxidase or acetyl cholinesterase, then with hematoxylin to determine the cellular composition of each colony.

    __________________________________________________________________________     #             SEQUENCE LISTING                                                 - (1) GENERAL INFORMATION:                                                     -    (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 34                                             - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:1:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 635 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:1:                                  - Met Pro Ser Trp Ala Leu Phe Met Val Thr Se - #r Cys Leu Leu Leu Ala          #                15                                                            - Pro Gln Asn Leu Ala Gln Val Ser Ser Gln As - #p Val Ser Leu Leu Ala          #            30                                                                - Ser Asp Ser Glu Pro Leu Lys Cys Phe Ser Ar - #g Thr Phe Glu Asp Leu          #        45                                                                    - Thr Cys Phe Trp Asp Glu Glu Glu Ala Ala Pr - #o Ser Gly Thr Tyr Gln          #    60                                                                        - Leu Leu Tyr Ala Tyr Pro Arg Glu Lys Pro Ar - #g Ala Cys Pro Leu Ser          #80                                                                            - Ser Gln Ser Met Pro His Phe Gly Thr Arg Ty - #r Val Cys Gln Phe Pro          #                95                                                            - Asp Gln Glu Glu Val Arg Leu Phe Phe Pro Le - #u His Leu Trp Val Lys          #           110                                                                - Asn Val Phe Leu Asn Gln Thr Arg Thr Gln Ar - #g Val Leu Phe Val Asp          #       125                                                                    - Ser Val Gly Leu Pro Ala Pro Pro Ser Ile Il - #e Lys Ala Met Gly Gly          #   140                                                                        - Ser Gln Pro Gly Glu Leu Gln Ile Ser Trp Gl - #u Glu Pro Ala Pro Glu          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Ile Ser Asp Phe Leu Arg Tyr Glu Leu Arg Ty - #r Gly Pro Arg Asp Pro          #   175                                                                        - Lys Asn Ser Thr Gly Pro Thr Val Ile Gln Le - #u Ile Ala Thr Glu Thr          #           190                                                                - Cys Cys Pro Ala Leu Gln Arg Pro His Ser Al - #a Ser Ala Leu Asp Gln          #       205                                                                    - Ser Pro Cys Ala Gln Pro Thr Met Pro Trp Gl - #n Asp Gly Pro Lys Gln          #   220                                                                        - Thr Ser Pro Ser Arg Glu Ala Ser Ala Leu Th - #r Ala Glu Gly Gly Ser          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Cys Leu Ile Ser Gly Leu Gln Pro Gly Asn Se - #r Tyr Trp Leu Gln Leu          #               255                                                            - Arg Ser Glu Pro Asp Gly Ile Ser Leu Gly Gl - #y Ser Trp Gly Ser Trp          #           270                                                                - Ser Leu Pro Val Thr Val Asp Leu Pro Gly As - #p Ala Val Ala Leu Gly          #       285                                                                    - Leu Gln Cys Phe Thr Leu Asp Leu Lys Asn Va - #l Thr Cys Gln Trp Gln          #   300                                                                        - Gln Gln Asp His Ala Ser Ser Gln Gly Phe Ph - #e Tyr His Ser Arg Ala          305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -        #20                                                                            - Arg Cys Cys Pro Arg Asp Arg Tyr Pro Ile Tr - #p Glu Asn Cys Glu Glu          #               335                                                            - Glu Glu Lys Thr Asn Pro Gly Leu Gln Thr Pr - #o Gln Phe Ser Arg Cys          #           350                                                                - His Phe Lys Ser Arg Asn Asp Ser Ile Ile Hi - #s Ile Leu Val Glu Val          #       365                                                                    - Thr Thr Ala Pro Gly Thr Val His Ser Tyr Le - #u Gly Ser Pro Phe Trp          #   380                                                                        - Ile His Gln Ala Val Arg Leu Pro Thr Pro As - #n Leu His Trp Arg Glu          385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -        #00                                                                            - Ile Ser Ser Gly His Leu Glu Leu Glu Trp Gl - #n His Pro Ser Ser Trp          #               415                                                            - Ala Ala Gln Glu Thr Cys Tyr Gln Leu Arg Ty - #r Thr Gly Glu Gly His          #           430                                                                - Gln Asp Trp Lys Val Leu Glu Pro Pro Leu Gl - #y Ala Arg Gly Gly Thr          #       445                                                                    - Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ser Arg Tyr Arg Le - #u Gln Leu Arg Ala Arg          #   460                                                                        - Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Trp Se - #r Ser Trp Ser Asp Pro          465                 4 - #70                 4 - #75                 4 -        #80                                                                            - Thr Arg Val Glu Thr Ala Thr Glu Thr Ala Tr - #p Ile Ser Leu Val Thr          #               495                                                            - Ala Leu His Leu Val Leu Gly Leu Ser Ala Va - #l Leu Gly Leu Leu Leu          #           510                                                                - Leu Arg Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Ar - #g Leu Arg His Ala Leu          #       525                                                                    - Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Le - #u Gly Gln Tyr Leu Arg          #   540                                                                        - Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro Pro Lys Ala Th - #r Val Ser Asp Thr Cys          545                 5 - #50                 5 - #55                 5 -        #60                                                                            - Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Leu Leu Glu Ile Le - #u Pro Lys Ser Ser Glu          #               575                                                            - Arg Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cys Ser Ser Gln Al - #a Gln Met Asp Tyr Arg          #           590                                                                - Arg Leu Gln Pro Ser Cys Leu Gly Thr Met Pr - #o Leu Ser Val Cys Pro          #       605                                                                    - Pro Met Ala Glu Ser Gly Ser Cys Cys Thr Th - #r His Ile Ala Asn His          #   620                                                                        - Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Trp Gln Gln Pr - #o                              625                 6 - #30                 6 - #35                            - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:2:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 187 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:2:                                  - Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ser Arg Tyr Arg Le - #u Gln Leu Arg Ala Arg          #                15                                                            - Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Trp Se - #r Ser Trp Ser Asp Pro          #            30                                                                - Thr Arg Val Glu Thr Ala Thr Glu Thr Ala Tr - #p Ile Ser Leu Val Thr          #        45                                                                    - Ala Leu His Leu Val Leu Gly Leu Ser Ala Va - #l Leu Gly Leu Leu Leu          #    60                                                                        - Leu Arg Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Ar - #g Leu Arg His Ala Leu          #80                                                                            - Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Le - #u Gly Gln Tyr Leu Arg          #                95                                                            - Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro Pro Lys Ala Th - #r Val Ser Asp Thr Cys          #           110                                                                - Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Leu Leu Glu Ile Le - #u Pro Lys Ser Ser Glu          #       125                                                                    - Arg Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cys Ser Ser Gln Al - #a Gln Met Asp Tyr Arg          #   140                                                                        - Arg Leu Gln Pro Ser Cys Leu Gly Thr Met Pr - #o Leu Ser Val Cys Pro          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Pro Met Ala Glu Ser Gly Ser Cys Cys Thr Th - #r His Ile Ala Asn His          #               175                                                            - Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Trp Gln Gln Pr - #o                              #           185                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:3:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 382 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:3:                                  - Ile Leu Leu Leu Ser Tyr Ala Ala Asn Arg Ar - #g Gly Leu Pro Ser Trp          #                15                                                            - Leu Leu Gly Pro Trp Ser Phe Pro Val Thr Va - #l Asp Leu Pro Gly Asp          #            30                                                                - Ala Val Thr Ile Gly Leu Gln Cys Phe Thr Le - #u Asp Leu Lys Met Val          #        45                                                                    - Thr Cys Gln Trp Gln Gln Gln Asp Arg Thr Se - #r Ser Gln Gly Phe Phe          #    60                                                                        - Arg His Ser Arg Thr Arg Cys Cys Pro Thr As - #p Arg Asp Pro Thr Trp          #80                                                                            - Glu Lys Cys Glu Glu Glu Glu Pro Arg Pro Gl - #y Ser Gln Pro Ala Leu          #                95                                                            - Val Ser Arg Cys His Phe Lys Ser Arg Asn As - #p Ser Val Ile His Ile          #           110                                                                - Leu Val Glu Val Thr Thr Ala Gln Gly Ala Va - #l His Ser Tyr Leu Gly          #       125                                                                    - Ser Pro Phe Trp Ile His Gln Ala Val Leu Le - #u Pro Thr Pro Ser Leu          #   140                                                                        - His Trp Arg Glu Val Ser Ser Gly Arg Leu Gl - #u Leu Glu Trp Gln His          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Gln Ser Ser Trp Ala Ala Gln Glu Thr Cys Ty - #r Gln Leu Arg Tyr Thr          #               175                                                            - Gly Glu Gly Arg Glu Asp Trp Lys Val Leu Gl - #u Pro Ser Leu Gly Ala          #           190                                                                - Arg Gly Gly Thr Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Al - #a Arg Tyr Ser Leu Gln          #       205                                                                    - Leu Arg Ala Arg Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gl - #n Gly Pro Trp Ser Ala          #   220                                                                        - Trp Ser Pro Pro Ala Arg Val Ser Thr Gly Se - #r Glu Thr Ala Trp Ile          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Thr Leu Val Thr Ala Leu Leu Leu Val Leu Se - #r Leu Ser Ala Leu Leu          #               255                                                            - Gly Leu Leu Leu Leu Lys Trp Gln Phe Pro Al - #a His Tyr Arg Arg Leu          #           270                                                                - Arg His Ala Leu Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Le - #u His Arg Val Leu Gly          #       285                                                                    - Gln Tyr Leu Arg Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pr - #o Ser Lys Ala Thr Val          #   300                                                                        - Thr Asp Ser Cys Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Le - #u Leu Glu Ile Leu Pro          305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -        #20                                                                            - Lys Ser Ser Glu Ser Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cy - #s Pro Ser Gln Pro Gln          #               335                                                            - Met Asp Tyr Arg Gly Leu Gln Pro Cys Leu Ar - #g Thr Met Pro Leu Ser          #           350                                                                - Val Cys Pro Pro Met Ala Glu Thr Gly Ser Cy - #s Cys Thr Thr His Ile          #       365                                                                    - Ala Asn His Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Tr - #p Gln Gln Pro                  #   380                                                                        - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:4:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 184 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:4:                                  - Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ala Arg Tyr Ser Le - #u Gln Leu Arg Ala Arg          #                15                                                            - Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Trp Se - #r Ala Trp Ser Pro Pro          #            30                                                                - Ala Arg Val Ser Thr Gly Ser Glu Thr Ala Tr - #p Ile Thr Leu Val Thr          #        45                                                                    - Ala Leu Leu Leu Val Leu Ser Leu Ser Ala Le - #u Leu Gly Leu Leu Leu          #    60                                                                        - Leu Lys Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Ar - #g Leu Arg His Ala Leu          #80                                                                            - Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Le - #u Gly Gln Tyr Leu Arg          #                95                                                            - Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro Ser Lys Ala Th - #r Val Thr Asp Ser Cys          #           110                                                                - Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Leu Leu Glu Ile Le - #u Pro Lys Ser Ser Glu          #       125                                                                    - Ser Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cys Pro Ser Gln Pr - #o Gln Met Asp Tyr Arg          #   140                                                                        - Gly Leu Gln Pro Cys Leu Arg Thr Met Pro Le - #u Ser Val Cys Pro Pro          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Met Ala Glu Thr Gly Ser Cys Cys Thr Thr Hi - #s Ile Ala Asn His Ser          #               175                                                            - Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Trp Gln                                                          180                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:5:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 37 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:5:                                  - Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Arg Leu Ar - #g His Ala Leu Trp Pro          #                15                                                            - Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Leu Gly Gl - #n Tyr Leu Arg Asp Thr          #            30                                                                - Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro                                                                  35                                                                     - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:6:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 20 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:6:                                  - Leu Val Thr Ala Leu His Leu Val Leu Gly Le - #u Ser Ala Val Leu Gly          #                15                                                            - Leu Leu Leu Leu                                                                          20                                                                 - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 493 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:7:                                  - Met Pro Ser Trp Ala Leu Phe Met Val Thr Se - #r Cys Leu Leu Leu Ala          #                15                                                            - Pro Gln Asn Leu Ala Gln Val Ser Ser Gln As - #p Val Ser Leu Leu Ala          #            30                                                                - Ser Asp Ser Glu Pro Leu Lys Cys Phe Ser Ar - #g Thr Phe Glu Asp Leu          #        45                                                                    - Thr Cys Phe Trp Asp Glu Glu Glu Ala Ala Pr - #o Ser Gly Thr Tyr Gln          #    60                                                                        - Leu Leu Tyr Ala Tyr Pro Arg Glu Lys Pro Ar - #g Ala Cys Pro Leu Ser          #80                                                                            - Ser Gln Ser Met Pro His Phe Gly Thr Arg Ty - #r Val Cys Gln Phe Pro          #                95                                                            - Asp Gln Glu Glu Val Arg Leu Phe Phe Pro Le - #u His Leu Trp Val Lys          #           110                                                                - Asn Val Phe Leu Asn Gln Thr Arg Thr Gln Ar - #g Val Leu Phe Val Asp          #       125                                                                    - Ser Val Gly Leu Pro Ala Pro Pro Ser Ile Il - #e Lys Ala Met Gly Gly          #   140                                                                        - Ser Gln Pro Gly Glu Leu Gln Ile Ser Trp Gl - #u Glu Pro Ala Pro Glu          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Ile Ser Asp Phe Leu Arg Tyr Glu Leu Arg Ty - #r Gly Pro Arg Asp Pro          #               175                                                            - Lys Asn Ser Thr Gly Pro Thr Val Ile Gln Le - #u Ile Ala Thr Glu Thr          #           190                                                                - Cys Cys Pro Ala Leu Gln Arg Pro His Ser Al - #a Ser Ala Leu Asp Gln          #       205                                                                    - Ser Pro Cys Ala Gln Pro Thr Met Pro Trp Gl - #n Asp Gly Pro Lys Gln          #   220                                                                        - Thr Ser Pro Ser Arg Glu Ala Ser Ala Leu Th - #r Ala Glu Gly Gly Ser          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Cys Leu Ile Ser Gly Leu Gln Pro Gly Asn Se - #r Tyr Trp Leu Gln Leu          #               255                                                            - Arg Ser Glu Pro Asp Gly Ile Ser Leu Gly Gl - #y Ser Trp Gly Ser Trp          #           270                                                                - Ser Leu Pro Val Thr Val Asp Leu Pro Gly As - #p Ala Val Ala Leu Gly          #       285                                                                    - Leu Gln Cys Phe Thr Leu Asp Leu Lys Asn Va - #l Thr Cys Gln Trp Gln          #   300                                                                        - Gln Gln Asp His Ala Ser Ser Gln Gly Phe Ph - #e Tyr His Ser Arg Ala          305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -        #20                                                                            - Arg Cys Cys Pro Arg Asp Arg Tyr Pro Ile Tr - #p Glu Asn Cys Glu Glu          #               335                                                            - Glu Glu Lys Thr Asn Pro Gly Leu Gln Thr Pr - #o Gln Phe Ser Arg Cys          #           350                                                                - His Phe Lys Ser Arg Asn Asp Ser Ile Ile Hi - #s Ile Leu Val Glu Val          #       365                                                                    - Thr Thr Ala Pro Gly Thr Val His Ser Tyr Le - #u Gly Ser Pro Phe Trp          #   380                                                                        - Ile His Gln Ala Val Arg Leu Pro Thr Pro As - #n Leu His Trp Arg Glu          385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -        #00                                                                            - Ile Ser Ser Gly His Leu Glu Leu Glu Trp Gl - #n His Pro Ser Ser Trp          #               415                                                            - Ala Ala Gln Glu Thr Cys Tyr Gln Leu Arg Ty - #r Thr Gly Glu Gly His          #           430                                                                - Gln Asp Trp Lys Val Leu Glu Pro Pro Leu Gl - #y Ala Arg Gly Gly Thr          #       445                                                                    - Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ser Arg Tyr Arg Le - #u Gln Leu Arg Ala Arg          #   460                                                                        - Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Trp Se - #r Ser Trp Ser Asp Pro          465                 4 - #70                 4 - #75                 4 -        #80                                                                            - Thr Arg Val Glu Thr Ala Thr Glu Thr Ala Tr - #p Ile Ser                      #               490                                                            - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:8:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 122 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:8:                                  - Arg Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Arg Le - #u Arg His Ala Leu Trp          #                15                                                            - Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Leu Gl - #y Gln Tyr Leu Arg Asp          #            30                                                                - Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro Pro Lys Ala Thr Va - #l Ser Asp Thr Cys Glu          #        45                                                                    - Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Leu Leu Glu Ile Leu Pr - #o Lys Ser Ser Glu Arg          #    60                                                                        - Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cys Ser Ser Gln Ala Gl - #n Met Asp Tyr Arg Arg          #80                                                                            - Leu Gln Pro Ser Cys Leu Gly Thr Met Pro Le - #u Ser Val Cys Pro Pro          #                95                                                            - Met Ala Glu Ser Gly Ser Cys Cys Thr Thr Hi - #s Ile Ala Asn His Ser          #           110                                                                - Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Trp Gln Gln Pro                                      #       120                                                                    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:9:                                             -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 20 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:9:                                  - Leu Val Thr Ala Leu Leu Leu Val Leu Ser Le - #u Ser Ala Leu Leu Gly          #                15                                                            - Leu Leu Leu Leu                                                                          20                                                                 - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:10:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 45 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:10:                                 - Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ala Arg Tyr Ser Le - #u Gln Leu Arg Ala Arg          #                15                                                            - Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Trp Se - #r Ala Trp Ser Pro Pro          #            30                                                                - Ala Arg Val Ser Thr Gly Ser Glu Thr Ala Tr - #p Ile Thr                      #        45                                                                    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:11:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 119 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:11:                                 - Lys Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Arg Le - #u Arg His Ala Leu Trp          #                15                                                            - Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Leu Gl - #y Gln Tyr Leu Arg Asp          #            30                                                                - Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro Ser Lys Ala Thr Va - #l Thr Asp Ser Cys Glu          #        45                                                                    - Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Leu Leu Glu Ile Leu Pr - #o Lys Ser Ser Glu Ser          #    60                                                                        - Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cys Pro Ser Gln Pro Gl - #n Met Asp Tyr Arg Gly          #80                                                                            - Leu Gln Pro Cys Leu Arg Thr Met Pro Leu Se - #r Val Cys Pro Pro Met          #                95                                                            - Ala Glu Thr Gly Ser Cys Cys Thr Thr His Il - #e Ala Asn His Ser Tyr          #           110                                                                - Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Trp Gln                                                          115                                                                    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:12:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 448 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:12:                                 - Met Pro Ser Trp Ala Leu Phe Met Val Thr Se - #r Cys Leu Leu Leu Ala          #                15                                                            - Pro Gln Asn Leu Ala Gln Val Ser Ser Gln As - #p Val Ser Leu Leu Ala          #            30                                                                - Ser Asp Ser Glu Pro Leu Lys Cys Phe Ser Ar - #g Thr Phe Glu Asp Leu          #        45                                                                    - Thr Cys Phe Trp Asp Glu Glu Glu Ala Ala Pr - #o Ser Gly Thr Tyr Gln          #    60                                                                        - Leu Leu Tyr Ala Tyr Pro Arg Glu Lys Pro Ar - #g Ala Cys Pro Leu Ser          #80                                                                            - Ser Gln Ser Met Pro His Phe Gly Thr Arg Ty - #r Val Cys Gln Phe Pro          #                95                                                            - Asp Gln Glu Glu Val Arg Leu Phe Phe Pro Le - #u His Leu Trp Val Lys          #           110                                                                - Asn Val Phe Leu Asn Gln Thr Arg Thr Gln Ar - #g Val Leu Phe Val Asp          #       125                                                                    - Ser Val Gly Leu Pro Ala Pro Pro Ser Ile Il - #e Lys Ala Met Gly Gly          #   140                                                                        - Ser Gln Pro Gly Glu Leu Gln Ile Ser Trp Gl - #u Glu Pro Ala Pro Glu          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Ile Ser Asp Phe Leu Arg Tyr Glu Leu Arg Ty - #r Gly Pro Arg Asp Pro          #               175                                                            - Lys Asn Ser Thr Gly Pro Thr Val Ile Gln Le - #u Ile Ala Thr Glu Thr          #           190                                                                - Cys Cys Pro Ala Leu Gln Arg Pro His Ser Al - #a Ser Ala Leu Asp Gln          #       205                                                                    - Ser Pro Cys Ala Gln Pro Thr Met Pro Trp Gl - #n Asp Gly Pro Lys Gln          #   220                                                                        - Thr Ser Pro Ser Arg Glu Ala Ser Ala Leu Th - #r Ala Glu Gly Gly Ser          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Cys Leu Ile Ser Gly Leu Gln Pro Gly Asn Se - #r Tyr Trp Leu Gln Leu          #               255                                                            - Arg Ser Glu Pro Asp Gly Ile Ser Leu Gly Gl - #y Ser Trp Gly Ser Trp          #           270                                                                - Ser Leu Pro Val Thr Val Asp Leu Pro Gly As - #p Ala Val Ala Leu Gly          #       285                                                                    - Leu Gln Cys Phe Thr Leu Asp Leu Lys Asn Va - #l Thr Cys Gln Trp Gln          #   300                                                                        - Gln Gln Asp His Ala Ser Ser Gln Gly Phe Ph - #e Tyr His Ser Arg Ala          305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -        #20                                                                            - Arg Cys Cys Pro Arg Asp Arg Tyr Pro Ile Tr - #p Glu Asn Cys Glu Glu          #               335                                                            - Glu Glu Lys Thr Asn Pro Gly Leu Gln Thr Pr - #o Gln Phe Ser Arg Cys          #           350                                                                - His Phe Lys Ser Arg Asn Asp Ser Ile Ile Hi - #s Ile Leu Val Glu Val          #       365                                                                    - Thr Thr Ala Pro Gly Thr Val His Ser Tyr Le - #u Gly Ser Pro Phe Trp          #   380                                                                        - Ile His Gln Ala Val Arg Leu Pro Thr Pro As - #n Leu His Trp Arg Glu          385                 3 - #90                 3 - #95                 4 -        #00                                                                            - Ile Ser Ser Gly His Leu Glu Leu Glu Trp Gl - #n His Pro Ser Ser Trp          #               415                                                            - Ala Ala Gln Glu Thr Cys Tyr Gln Leu Arg Ty - #r Thr Gly Glu Gly His          #           430                                                                - Gln Asp Trp Lys Val Leu Glu Pro Pro Leu Gl - #y Ala Arg Gly Gly Thr          #       445                                                                    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:13:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 196 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:13:                                 - Ile Leu Leu Leu Ser Tyr Ala Ala Asn Arg Ar - #g Gly Leu Pro Ser Trp          #                15                                                            - Leu Leu Gly Pro Trp Ser Phe Pro Val Thr Va - #l Asp Leu Pro Gly Glu          #            30                                                                - Ala Val Ile Ile Gly Leu Gln Cys Phe Thr Le - #u Asp Leu Lys Met Val          #        45                                                                    - Thr Cys Gln Trp Gln Gln Gln Asp Arg Thr Se - #r Ser Gln Gly Phe Phe          #    60                                                                        - Arg His Ser Arg Thr Arg Cys Cys Pro Thr As - #p Arg Asp Pro Thr Trp          #80                                                                            - Glu Lys Cys Glu Glu Glu Glu Pro Arg Pro Gl - #y Ser Gln Pro Ala Leu          #                95                                                            - Val Ser Arg Cys His Phe Lys Ser Arg Asn As - #p Ser Val Ile His Ile          #           110                                                                - Leu Val Glu Val Thr Thr Ala Gln Gly Ala Va - #l His Ser Tyr Leu Gly          #       125                                                                    - Ser Pro Phe Trp Ile His Gln Ala Val Leu Le - #u Pro Thr Pro Ser Leu          #   140                                                                        - His Trp Arg Glu Val Ser Ser Gly Arg Leu Gl - #u Leu Glu Trp Gln His          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Gln Ser Ser Trp Ala Ala Gln Glu Thr Cys Ty - #r Gln Leu Arg Tyr Thr          #               175                                                            - Gly Glu Gly Arg Glu Asp Trp Lys Val Leu Gl - #u Pro Ser Leu Gly Ala          #           190                                                                - Arg Gly Gly Thr                                                                      195                                                                    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:14:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 284 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:14:                                 - Met Ala Cys Ser Thr Leu Pro Lys Ser Pro Ly - #s Asp Lys Ile Asp Pro          #                15                                                            - Arg Asp Leu Leu Ile Pro Leu Ile Leu Phe Le - #u Ser Leu Lys Gly Ala          #            30                                                                - Arg Ser Ala Ala Pro Gly Ser Ser Pro His Gl - #n Val Tyr Asn Ile Thr          #        45                                                                    - Trp Glu Val Thr Asn Gly Asp Arg Glu Thr Va - #l Trp Ala Ile Ser Gly          #    60                                                                        - Arg Leu Tyr Val Ser Gly Arg Asp Pro Gly Le - #u Thr Phe Gly Ile Arg          #80                                                                            - Leu Arg Tyr Gln Asn Leu Gly Pro Arg Val Pr - #o Ile Gly Pro Asn Pro          #                95                                                            - Val Leu Ala Asp Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Al - #a Arg Tyr Ser Leu Gln          #           110                                                                - Leu Arg Ala Arg Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gl - #n Gly Pro Trp Ser Ala          #       125                                                                    - Trp Ser Pro Pro Ala Arg Val Ser Thr Gly Se - #r Glu Thr Ala Trp Ile          #   140                                                                        - Thr Leu Val Thr Ala Leu Leu Leu Val Leu Se - #r Leu Ser Ala Leu Leu          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Gly Leu Leu Leu Leu Lys Trp Gln Phe Pro Al - #a His Tyr Arg Arg Leu          #               175                                                            - Arg His Ala Leu Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Le - #u His Arg Val Leu Gly          #           190                                                                - Gln Tyr Leu Arg Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pr - #o Ser Lys Ala Thr Val          #       205                                                                    - Thr Asp Ser Cys Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Le - #u Leu Glu Ile Leu Pro          #   220                                                                        - Lys Ser Ser Glu Ser Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cy - #s Pro Ser Gln Pro Gln          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Met Asp Tyr Arg Gly Leu Gln Pro Cys Leu Ar - #g Thr Met Pro Leu Ser          #               255                                                            - Val Cys Pro Pro Met Ala Glu Thr Gly Ser Cy - #s Cys Thr Thr His Ile          #           270                                                                - Ala Asn His Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Tr - #p Gln                          #       280                                                                    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:15:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 2034 base                                                          (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic)                                        -     (ix) FEATURE:                                                                      (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 4..1908                                                -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:15:                                 - AAG ATG CCC TCC TGG GCC CTC TTC ATG GTC AC - #C TCC TGC CTC CTC CTG            48                                                                           #Val Thr Ser Cys Leu Leu LeuPhe Met                                            #   15                                                                         - GCC CCT CAA AAC CTG GCC CAA GTC AGC AGC CA - #A GAT GTC TCC TTG CTG            96                                                                           Ala Pro Gln Asn Leu Ala Gln Val Ser Ser Gl - #n Asp Val Ser Leu Leu            #                 30                                                           - GCA TCA GAC TCA GAG CCC CTG AAG TGT TTC TC - #C CGA ACA TTT GAG GAC           144                                                                           Ala Ser Asp Ser Glu Pro Leu Lys Cys Phe Se - #r Arg Thr Phe Glu Asp            #             45                                                               - CTC ACT TGC TTC TGG GAT GAG GAA GAG GCA GC - #G CCC AGT GGG ACA TAC           192                                                                           Leu Thr Cys Phe Trp Asp Glu Glu Glu Ala Al - #a Pro Ser Gly Thr Tyr            #         60                                                                   - CAG CTG CTG TAT GCC TAC CCG CGG GAG AAG CC - #C CGT GCT TGC CCC CTG           240                                                                           Gln Leu Leu Tyr Ala Tyr Pro Arg Glu Lys Pr - #o Arg Ala Cys Pro Leu            #     75                                                                       - AGT TCC CAG AGC ATG CCC CAC TTT GGA ACC CG - #A TAC GTG TGC CAG TTT           288                                                                           Ser Ser Gln Ser Met Pro His Phe Gly Thr Ar - #g Tyr Val Cys Gln Phe            # 95                                                                           - CCA GAC CAG GAG GAA GTG CGT CTC TTC TTT CC - #G CTG CAC CTC TGG GTG           336                                                                           Pro Asp Gln Glu Glu Val Arg Leu Phe Phe Pr - #o Leu His Leu Trp Val            #               110                                                            - AAG AAT GTG TTC CTA AAC CAG ACT CGG ACT CA - #G CGA GTC CTC TTT GTG           384                                                                           Lys Asn Val Phe Leu Asn Gln Thr Arg Thr Gl - #n Arg Val Leu Phe Val            #           125                                                                - GAC AGT GTA GGC CTG CCG GCT CCC CCC AGT AT - #C ATC AAG GCC ATG GGT           432                                                                           Asp Ser Val Gly Leu Pro Ala Pro Pro Ser Il - #e Ile Lys Ala Met Gly            #       140                                                                    - GGG AGC CAG CCA GGG GAA CTT CAG ATC AGC TG - #G GAG GAG CCA GCT CCA           480                                                                           Gly Ser Gln Pro Gly Glu Leu Gln Ile Ser Tr - #p Glu Glu Pro Ala Pro            #   155                                                                        - GAA ATC AGT GAT TTC CTG AGG TAC GAA CTC CG - #C TAT GGC CCC AGA GAT           528                                                                           Glu Ile Ser Asp Phe Leu Arg Tyr Glu Leu Ar - #g Tyr Gly Pro Arg Asp            160                 1 - #65                 1 - #70                 1 -        #75                                                                            - CCC AAG AAC TCC ACT GGT CCC ACG GTC ATA CA - #G CTG ATT GCC ACA GAA           576                                                                           Pro Lys Asn Ser Thr Gly Pro Thr Val Ile Gl - #n Leu Ile Ala Thr Glu            #               190                                                            - ACC TGC TGC CCT GCT CTG CAG AGG CCT CAC TC - #A GCC TCT GCT CTG GAC           624                                                                           Thr Cys Cys Pro Ala Leu Gln Arg Pro His Se - #r Ala Ser Ala Leu Asp            #           205                                                                - CAG TCT CCA TGT GCT CAG CCC ACA ATG CCC TG - #G CAA GAT GGA CCA AAG           672                                                                           Gln Ser Pro Cys Ala Gln Pro Thr Met Pro Tr - #p Gln Asp Gly Pro Lys            #       220                                                                    - CAG ACC TCC CCA AGT AGA GAA GCT TCA GCT CT - #G ACA GCA GAG GGT GGA           720                                                                           Gln Thr Ser Pro Ser Arg Glu Ala Ser Ala Le - #u Thr Ala Glu Gly Gly            #   235                                                                        - AGC TGC CTC ATC TCA GGA CTC CAG CCT GGC AA - #C TCC TAC TGG CTG CAG           768                                                                           Ser Cys Leu Ile Ser Gly Leu Gln Pro Gly As - #n Ser Tyr Trp Leu Gln            240                 2 - #45                 2 - #50                 2 -        #55                                                                            - CTG CGC AGC GAA CCT GAT GGG ATC TCC CTC GG - #T GGC TCC TGG GGA TCC           816                                                                           Leu Arg Ser Glu Pro Asp Gly Ile Ser Leu Gl - #y Gly Ser Trp Gly Ser            #               270                                                            - TGG TCC CTC CCT GTG ACT GTG GAC CTG CCT GG - #A GAT GCA GTG GCA CTT           864                                                                           Trp Ser Leu Pro Val Thr Val Asp Leu Pro Gl - #y Asp Ala Val Ala Leu            #           285                                                                - GGA CTG CAA TGC TTT ACC TTG GAC CTG AAG AA - #T GTT ACC TGT CAA TGG           912                                                                           Gly Leu Gln Cys Phe Thr Leu Asp Leu Lys As - #n Val Thr Cys Gln Trp            #       300                                                                    - CAG CAA CAG GAC CAT GCT AGC TCC CAA GGC TT - #C TTC TAC CAC AGC AGG           960                                                                           Gln Gln Gln Asp His Ala Ser Ser Gln Gly Ph - #e Phe Tyr His Ser Arg            #   315                                                                        - GCA CGG TGC TGC CCC AGA GAC AGG TAC CCC AT - #C TGG GAG AAC TGC GAA          1008                                                                           Ala Arg Cys Cys Pro Arg Asp Arg Tyr Pro Il - #e Trp Glu Asn Cys Glu            320                 3 - #25                 3 - #30                 3 -        #35                                                                            - GAG GAA GAG AAA ACA AAT CCA GGA CTA CAG AC - #C CCA CAG TTC TCT CGC          1056                                                                           Glu Glu Glu Lys Thr Asn Pro Gly Leu Gln Th - #r Pro Gln Phe Ser Arg            #               350                                                            - TGC CAC TTC AAG TCA CGA AAT GAC AGC ATT AT - #T CAC ATC CTT GTG GAG          1104                                                                           Cys His Phe Lys Ser Arg Asn Asp Ser Ile Il - #e His Ile Leu Val Glu            #           365                                                                - GTG ACC ACA GCC CCG GGT ACT GTT CAC AGC TA - #C CTG GGC TCC CCT TTC          1152                                                                           Val Thr Thr Ala Pro Gly Thr Val His Ser Ty - #r Leu Gly Ser Pro Phe            #       380                                                                    - TGG ATC CAC CAG GCT GTG CGC CTC CCC ACC CC - #A AAC TTG CAC TGG AGG          1200                                                                           Trp Ile His Gln Ala Val Arg Leu Pro Thr Pr - #o Asn Leu His Trp Arg            #   395                                                                        - GAG ATC TCC AGT GGG CAT CTG GAA TTG GAG TG - #G CAG CAC CCA TCG TCC          1248                                                                           Glu Ile Ser Ser Gly His Leu Glu Leu Glu Tr - #p Gln His Pro Ser Ser            400                 4 - #05                 4 - #10                 4 -        #15                                                                            - TGG GCA GCC CAA GAG ACC TGT TAT CAA CTC CG - #A TAC ACA GGA GAA GGC          1296                                                                           Trp Ala Ala Gln Glu Thr Cys Tyr Gln Leu Ar - #g Tyr Thr Gly Glu Gly            #               430                                                            - CAT CAG GAC TGG AAG GTG CTG GAG CCG CCT CT - #C GGG GCC CGA GGA GGG          1344                                                                           His Gln Asp Trp Lys Val Leu Glu Pro Pro Le - #u Gly Ala Arg Gly Gly            #           445                                                                - ACC CTG GAG CTG CGC CCG CGA TCT CGC TAC CG - #T TTA CAG CTG CGC GCC          1392                                                                           Thr Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ser Arg Tyr Ar - #g Leu Gln Leu Arg Ala            #       460                                                                    - AGG CTC AAC GGC CCC ACC TAC CAA GGT CCC TG - #G AGC TCG TGG TCG GAC          1440                                                                           Arg Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Tr - #p Ser Ser Trp Ser Asp            #   475                                                                        - CCA ACT AGG GTG GAG ACC GCC ACC GAG ACC GC - #C TGG ATC TCC TTG GTG          1488                                                                           Pro Thr Arg Val Glu Thr Ala Thr Glu Thr Al - #a Trp Ile Ser Leu Val            480                 4 - #85                 4 - #90                 4 -        #95                                                                            - ACC GCT CTG CAT CTA GTG CTG GGC CTC AGC GC - #C GTC CTG GGC CTG CTG          1536                                                                           Thr Ala Leu His Leu Val Leu Gly Leu Ser Al - #a Val Leu Gly Leu Leu            #               510                                                            - CTG CTG AGG TGG CAG TTT CCT GCA CAC TAC AG - #G AGA CTG AGG CAT GCC          1584                                                                           Leu Leu Arg Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Ar - #g Arg Leu Arg His Ala            #           525                                                                - CTG TGG CCC TCA CTT CCA GAC CTG CAC CGG GT - #C CTA GGC CAG TAC CTT          1632                                                                           Leu Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Va - #l Leu Gly Gln Tyr Leu            #       540                                                                    - AGG GAC ACT GCA GCC CTG AGC CCG CCC AAG GC - #C ACA GTC TCA GAT ACC          1680                                                                           Arg Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro Pro Lys Al - #a Thr Val Ser Asp Thr            #   555                                                                        - TGT GAA GAA GTG GAA CCC AGC CTC CTT GAA AT - #C CTC CCC AAG TCC TCA          1728                                                                           Cys Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Leu Leu Glu Il - #e Leu Pro Lys Ser Ser            560                 5 - #65                 5 - #70                 5 -        #75                                                                            - GAG AGG ACT CCT TTG CCC CTG TGT TCC TCC CA - #G GCC CAG ATG GAC TAC          1776                                                                           Glu Arg Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cys Ser Ser Gl - #n Ala Gln Met Asp Tyr            #               590                                                            - CGA AGA TTG CAG CCT TCT TGC CTG GGG ACC AT - #G CCC CTG TCT GTG TGC          1824                                                                           Arg Arg Leu Gln Pro Ser Cys Leu Gly Thr Me - #t Pro Leu Ser Val Cys            #           605                                                                - CCA CCC ATG GCT GAG TCA GGG TCC TGC TGT AC - #C ACC CAC ATT GCC AAC          1872                                                                           Pro Pro Met Ala Glu Ser Gly Ser Cys Cys Th - #r Thr His Ile Ala Asn            #       620                                                                    - CAT TCC TAC CTA CCA CTA AGC TAT TGG CAG CA - #G CCT TGAGGACAGG               1918                                                                           His Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Trp Gln Gl - #n Pro                            #   635                                                                        - CTCCTCACTC CCAGTTCCCT GGACAGAGCT AAACTCTCGA GACTTCTCTG TG - #AACTTCCC        1978                                                                           - TACCCTACCC CCACAACACA AGCACCCCAG ACCTCACCTC CATCCCCCTC TG - #TCTG            2034                                                                           - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:16:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 558 base                                                           (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic)                                        -     (ix) FEATURE:                                                                      (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 1..558                                                 -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:16:                                 - CTG GAG CTG CGC CCG CGA TCT CGC TAC CGT TT - #A CAG CTG CGC GCC AGG            48                                                                           Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ser Arg Tyr Arg Le - #u Gln Leu Arg Ala Arg            #                 15                                                           - CTC AAC GGC CCC ACC TAC CAA GGT CCC TGG AG - #C TCG TGG TCG GAC CCA            96                                                                           Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Trp Se - #r Ser Trp Ser Asp Pro            #             30                                                               - ACT AGG GTG GAG ACC GCC ACC GAG ACC GCC TG - #G ATC TCC TTG GTG ACC           144                                                                           Thr Arg Val Glu Thr Ala Thr Glu Thr Ala Tr - #p Ile Ser Leu Val Thr            #         45                                                                   - GCT CTG CAT CTA GTG CTG GGC CTC AGC GCC GT - #C CTG GGC CTG CTG CTG           192                                                                           Ala Leu His Leu Val Leu Gly Leu Ser Ala Va - #l Leu Gly Leu Leu Leu            #     60                                                                       - CTG AGG TGG CAG TTT CCT GCA CAC TAC AGG AG - #A CTG AGG CAT GCC CTG           240                                                                           Leu Arg Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Ar - #g Leu Arg His Ala Leu            # 80                                                                           - TGG CCC TCA CTT CCA GAC CTG CAC CGG GTC CT - #A GGC CAG TAC CTT AGG           288                                                                           Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Le - #u Gly Gln Tyr Leu Arg            #                 95                                                           - GAC ACT GCA GCC CTG AGC CCG CCC AAG GCC AC - #A GTC TCA GAT ACC TGT           336                                                                           Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro Pro Lys Ala Th - #r Val Ser Asp Thr Cys            #           110                                                                - GAA GAA GTG GAA CCC AGC CTC CTT GAA ATC CT - #C CCC AAG TCC TCA GAG           384                                                                           Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Leu Leu Glu Ile Le - #u Pro Lys Ser Ser Glu            #       125                                                                    - AGG ACT CCT TTG CCC CTG TGT TCC TCC CAG GC - #C CAG ATG GAC TAC CGA           432                                                                           Arg Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cys Ser Ser Gln Al - #a Gln Met Asp Tyr Arg            #   140                                                                        - AGA TTG CAG CCT TCT TGC CTG GGG ACC ATG CC - #C CTG TCT GTG TGC CCA           480                                                                           Arg Leu Gln Pro Ser Cys Leu Gly Thr Met Pr - #o Leu Ser Val Cys Pro            145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - CCC ATG GCT GAG TCA GGG TCC TGC TGT ACC AC - #C CAC ATT GCC AAC CAT           528                                                                           Pro Met Ala Glu Ser Gly Ser Cys Cys Thr Th - #r His Ile Ala Asn His            #               175                                                            #          558     TA AGC TAT TGG CAG CAG                                      Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Trp Gln Gln                                        #           185                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:17:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 1307 base                                                          (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic)                                        -     (ix) FEATURE:                                                                      (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 1..1146                                                -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:17:                                 - ATC CTA CTG CTC AGC TAC GCA GCC AAC CGA CG - #G GGT CTC CCT TCG TGG            48                                                                           Ile Leu Leu Leu Ser Tyr Ala Ala Asn Arg Ar - #g Gly Leu Pro Ser Trp            #                 15                                                           - CTC CTG GGA CCC TGG TCC TTC CCT GTG ACT GT - #G GAT CTT CCA GGA GAT            96                                                                           Leu Leu Gly Pro Trp Ser Phe Pro Val Thr Va - #l Asp Leu Pro Gly Asp            #             30                                                               - GCA GTG ACA ATT GGA CTT CAG TGC TTT ACC TT - #G GAT CTG AAG ATG GTC           144                                                                           Ala Val Thr Ile Gly Leu Gln Cys Phe Thr Le - #u Asp Leu Lys Met Val            #         45                                                                   - ACC TGC CAG TGG CAG CAA CAA GAC CGC ACT AG - #C TCC CAA GGC TTC TTC           192                                                                           Thr Cys Gln Trp Gln Gln Gln Asp Arg Thr Se - #r Ser Gln Gly Phe Phe            #     60                                                                       - CGT CAC AGC AGG ACG AGG TGC TGC CCC ACA GA - #C AGG GAC CCC ACC TGG           240                                                                           Arg His Ser Arg Thr Arg Cys Cys Pro Thr As - #p Arg Asp Pro Thr Trp            # 80                                                                           - GAG AAA TGT GAA GAG GAG GAA CCG CGT CCA GG - #A TCA CAG CCC GCT CTC           288                                                                           Glu Lys Cys Glu Glu Glu Glu Pro Arg Pro Gl - #y Ser Gln Pro Ala Leu            #                 95                                                           - GTC TCC CGC TGC CAC TTC AAG TCA CGA AAT GA - #C AGT GTT ATT CAC ATC           336                                                                           Val Ser Arg Cys His Phe Lys Ser Arg Asn As - #p Ser Val Ile His Ile            #           110                                                                - CTT GTA GAG GTG ACC ACA GCG CAA GGT GCC GT - #T CAC AGC TAC CTG GGC           384                                                                           Leu Val Glu Val Thr Thr Ala Gln Gly Ala Va - #l His Ser Tyr Leu Gly            #       125                                                                    - TCC CCT TTT TGG ATC CAC CAG GCT GTG CTC CT - #T CCC ACC CCG AGC CTG           432                                                                           Ser Pro Phe Trp Ile His Gln Ala Val Leu Le - #u Pro Thr Pro Ser Leu            #   140                                                                        - CAC TGG AGG GAG GTC TCA AGT GGA AGG CTG GA - #G TTG GAG TGG CAG CAC           480                                                                           His Trp Arg Glu Val Ser Ser Gly Arg Leu Gl - #u Leu Glu Trp Gln His            145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - CAG TCA TCT TGG GCA GCT CAA GAG ACC TGC TA - #C CAG CTC CGG TAC ACG           528                                                                           Gln Ser Ser Trp Ala Ala Gln Glu Thr Cys Ty - #r Gln Leu Arg Tyr Thr            #               175                                                            - GGA GAA GGC CGT GAG GAC TGG AAG GTG CTG GA - #G CCA TCT CTC GGT GCC           576                                                                           Gly Glu Gly Arg Glu Asp Trp Lys Val Leu Gl - #u Pro Ser Leu Gly Ala            #           190                                                                - CGG GGA GGG ACC CTA GAG CTG CGC CCC CGA GC - #T CGC TAC AGC TTG CAG           624                                                                           Arg Gly Gly Thr Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Al - #a Arg Tyr Ser Leu Gln            #       205                                                                    - CTG CGT GCC AGG CTC AAC GGC CCC ACC TAC CA - #A GGT CCC TGG AGC GCC           672                                                                           Leu Arg Ala Arg Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gl - #n Gly Pro Trp Ser Ala            #   220                                                                        - TGG TCT CCC CCA GCT AGG GTG TCC ACG GGC TC - #C GAG ACT GCT TGG ATC           720                                                                           Trp Ser Pro Pro Ala Arg Val Ser Thr Gly Se - #r Glu Thr Ala Trp Ile            225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - ACC TTG GTG ACT GCT CTG CTC CTG GTG CTG AG - #C CTC AGT GCC CTT CTG           768                                                                           Thr Leu Val Thr Ala Leu Leu Leu Val Leu Se - #r Leu Ser Ala Leu Leu            #               255                                                            - GGC CTA CTG CTG CTA AAG TGG CAA TTT CCT GC - #G CAC TAC AGG AGA CTG           816                                                                           Gly Leu Leu Leu Leu Lys Trp Gln Phe Pro Al - #a His Tyr Arg Arg Leu            #           270                                                                - AGG CAT GCT TTG TGG CCC TCG CTT CCA GAC CT - #A CAC CGG GTC CTA GGC           864                                                                           Arg His Ala Leu Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Le - #u His Arg Val Leu Gly            #       285                                                                    - CAG TAC CTC AGA GAC ACT GCA GCC CTA AGT CC - #T TCT AAG GCC ACG GTT           912                                                                           Gln Tyr Leu Arg Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pr - #o Ser Lys Ala Thr Val            #   300                                                                        - ACC GAT AGC TGT GAA GAA GTG GAA CCC AGC CT - #C CTG GAA ATC CTC CCT           960                                                                           Thr Asp Ser Cys Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Le - #u Leu Glu Ile Leu Pro            305                 3 - #10                 3 - #15                 3 -        #20                                                                            - AAA TCC TCA GAG AGC ACT CCT TTA CCT CTG TG - #T CCC TCC CAA CCT CAG          1008                                                                           Lys Ser Ser Glu Ser Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cy - #s Pro Ser Gln Pro Gln            #               335                                                            - ATG GAC TAC AGA GGA CTG CAA CCT TGC CTG CG - #G ACC ATG CCC CTG TCT          1056                                                                           Met Asp Tyr Arg Gly Leu Gln Pro Cys Leu Ar - #g Thr Met Pro Leu Ser            #           350                                                                - GTG TGT CCA CCC ATG GCT GAG ACG GGG TCC TG - #C TGC ACC ACA CAC ATT          1104                                                                           Val Cys Pro Pro Met Ala Glu Thr Gly Ser Cy - #s Cys Thr Thr His Ile            #       365                                                                    - GCC AAC CAC TCC TAC CTA CCA CTA AGC TAT TG - #G CAG CAG CCC                  #1146                                                                          Ala Asn His Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Tr - #p Gln Gln Pro                    #   380                                                                        - TGAAGGCAGT CCCCATGCTA CTGCAGACCT ATACATTCCT ACACACTACC TT - #ATCCATCC        1206                                                                           - TCAACACCAT CCATTCTGTT GCCACCCCAC TCCCCCTCTG GCTTTATAAC AC - #TGATCACT        1266                                                                           # 1307             CAAA TCCAGAGCTC TGTCTCTGCA G                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:18:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 552 base                                                           (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic)                                        -     (ix) FEATURE:                                                                      (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 1..552                                                 -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:18:                                 - CTA GAG CTG CGC CCC CGA GCT CGC TAC AGC TT - #G CAG CTG CGT GCC AGG            48                                                                           Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ala Arg Tyr Ser Le - #u Gln Leu Arg Ala Arg            #                 15                                                           - CTC AAC GGC CCC ACC TAC CAA GGT CCC TGG AG - #C GCC TGG TCT CCC CCA            96                                                                           Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Trp Se - #r Ala Trp Ser Pro Pro            #             30                                                               - GCT AGG GTG TCC ACG GGC TCC GAG ACT GCT TG - #G ATC ACC TTG GTG ACT           144                                                                           Ala Arg Val Ser Thr Gly Ser Glu Thr Ala Tr - #p Ile Thr Leu Val Thr            #         45                                                                   - GCT CTG CTC CTG GTG CTG AGC CTC AGT GCC CT - #T CTG GGC CTA CTG CTG           192                                                                           Ala Leu Leu Leu Val Leu Ser Leu Ser Ala Le - #u Leu Gly Leu Leu Leu            #     60                                                                       - CTA AAG TGG CAA TTT CCT GCG CAC TAC AGG AG - #A CTG AGG CAT GCT TTG           240                                                                           Leu Lys Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Ar - #g Leu Arg His Ala Leu            # 80                                                                           - TGG CCC TCG CTT CCA GAC CTA CAC CGG GTC CT - #A GGC CAG TAC CTC AGA           288                                                                           Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Le - #u Gly Gln Tyr Leu Arg            #                 95                                                           - GAC ACT GCA GCC CTA AGT CCT TCT AAG GCC AC - #G GTT ACC GAT AGC TGT           336                                                                           Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro Ser Lys Ala Th - #r Val Thr Asp Ser Cys            #           110                                                                - GAA GAA GTG GAA CCC AGC CTC CTG GAA ATC CT - #C CCT AAA TCC TCA GAG           384                                                                           Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Leu Leu Glu Ile Le - #u Pro Lys Ser Ser Glu            #       125                                                                    - AGC ACT CCT TTA CCT CTG TGT CCC TCC CAA CC - #T CAG ATG GAC TAC AGA           432                                                                           Ser Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cys Pro Ser Gln Pr - #o Gln Met Asp Tyr Arg            #   140                                                                        - GGA CTG CAA CCT TGC CTG CGG ACC ATG CCC CT - #G TCT GTG TGT CCA CCC           480                                                                           Gly Leu Gln Pro Cys Leu Arg Thr Met Pro Le - #u Ser Val Cys Pro Pro            145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - ATG GCT GAG ACG GGG TCC TGC TGC ACC ACA CA - #C ATT GCC AAC CAC TCC           528                                                                           Met Ala Glu Thr Gly Ser Cys Cys Thr Thr Hi - #s Ile Ala Asn His Ser            #               175                                                            #               552GC TAT TGG CAG                                              Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Trp Gln                                                            180                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:19:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 111 base                                                           (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic)                                        -     (ix) FEATURE:                                                                      (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 1..111                                                 -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:19:                                 - TGG CAA TTT CCT GCG CAC TAC AGG AGA CTG AG - #G CAT GCT TTG TGG CCC            48                                                                           Trp Gln Phe Pro Ala His Tyr Arg Arg Leu Ar - #g His Ala Leu Trp Pro            #                 15                                                           - TCG CTT CCA GAC CTA CAC CGG GTC CTA GGC CA - #G TAC CTC AGA GAC ACT            96                                                                           Ser Leu Pro Asp Leu His Arg Val Leu Gly Gl - #n Tyr Leu Arg Asp Thr            #             30                                                               #   111            CT                                                          Ala Ala Leu Ser Pro                                                                     35                                                                    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:20:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #pairs    (A) LENGTH: 1216 base                                                          (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                         (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                       (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: DNA (genomic)                                        -     (ix) FEATURE:                                                                      (A) NAME/KEY: CDS                                                              (B) LOCATION: 1..852                                                 -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:20:                                 - ATG GCG TGT TCA ACG CTC CCA AAA TCC CCT AA - #A GAT AAG ATT GAC CCG            48                                                                           Met Ala Cys Ser Thr Leu Pro Lys Ser Pro Ly - #s Asp Lys Ile Asp Pro            #                 15                                                           - CGG GAC CTC CTA ATC CCC TTA ATT CTC TTC CT - #G TCT CTC AAA GGG GCC            96                                                                           Arg Asp Leu Leu Ile Pro Leu Ile Leu Phe Le - #u Ser Leu Lys Gly Ala            #             30                                                               - AGA TCC GCA GCA CCC GGC TCC AGC CCT CAC CA - #G GTC TAC AAC ATT ACC           144                                                                           Arg Ser Ala Ala Pro Gly Ser Ser Pro His Gl - #n Val Tyr Asn Ile Thr            #         45                                                                   - TGG GAA GTG ACC AAT GGG GAT CGG GAG ACA GT - #A TGG GCA ATA TCA GGA           192                                                                           Trp Glu Val Thr Asn Gly Asp Arg Glu Thr Va - #l Trp Ala Ile Ser Gly            #     60                                                                       - CGT CTT TAT GTC TCT GGG CGG GAC CCG GGG CT - #T ACT TTC GGG ATC CGA           240                                                                           Arg Leu Tyr Val Ser Gly Arg Asp Pro Gly Le - #u Thr Phe Gly Ile Arg            # 80                                                                           - CTC AGA TAT CAA AAT CTA GGA CCT CGG GTC CC - #G ATA GGA CCG AAC CCC           288                                                                           Leu Arg Tyr Gln Asn Leu Gly Pro Arg Val Pr - #o Ile Gly Pro Asn Pro            #                 95                                                           - GTC CTG GCA GAC CTA GAG CTG CGC CCC CGA GC - #T CGC TAC AGC TTG CAG           336                                                                           Val Leu Ala Asp Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Al - #a Arg Tyr Ser Leu Gln            #           110                                                                - CTG CGT GCC AGG CTC AAC GGC CCC ACC TAC CA - #A GGT CCC TGG AGC GCC           384                                                                           Leu Arg Ala Arg Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gl - #n Gly Pro Trp Ser Ala            #       125                                                                    - TGG TCT CCC CCA GCT AGG GTG TCC ACG GGC TC - #C GAG ACT GCT TGG ATC           432                                                                           Trp Ser Pro Pro Ala Arg Val Ser Thr Gly Se - #r Glu Thr Ala Trp Ile            #   140                                                                        - ACC TTG GTG ACT GCT CTG CTC CTG GTG CTG AG - #C CTC AGT GCC CTT CTG           480                                                                           Thr Leu Val Thr Ala Leu Leu Leu Val Leu Se - #r Leu Ser Ala Leu Leu            145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - GGC CTA CTG CTG CTA AAG TGG CAA TTT CCT GC - #G CAC TAC AGG AGA CTG           528                                                                           Gly Leu Leu Leu Leu Lys Trp Gln Phe Pro Al - #a His Tyr Arg Arg Leu            #               175                                                            - AGG CAT GCT TTG TGG CCC TCG CTT CCA GAC CT - #A CAC CGG GTC CTA GGC           576                                                                           Arg His Ala Leu Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Le - #u His Arg Val Leu Gly            #           190                                                                - CAG TAC CTC AGA GAC ACT GCA GCC CTA AGT CC - #T TCT AAG GCC ACG GTT           624                                                                           Gln Tyr Leu Arg Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pr - #o Ser Lys Ala Thr Val            #       205                                                                    - ACC GAT AGC TGT GAA GAA GTG GAA CCC AGC CT - #C CTG GAA ATC CTC CCT           672                                                                           Thr Asp Ser Cys Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Le - #u Leu Glu Ile Leu Pro            #   220                                                                        - AAG TCC TCA GAG AGC ACT CCT TTA CCT CTG TG - #T CCC TCC CAA CCT CAG           720                                                                           Lys Ser Ser Glu Ser Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cy - #s Pro Ser Gln Pro Gln            225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - ATG GAC TAC AGA GGA CTG CAA CCT TGC CTG CG - #G ACC ATG CCC CTG TCT           768                                                                           Met Asp Tyr Arg Gly Leu Gln Pro Cys Leu Ar - #g Thr Met Pro Leu Ser            #               255                                                            - GTG TGT CCA CCC ATG GCT GAG ACG GGG TCC TG - #C TGC ACC ACA CAC ATT           816                                                                           Val Cys Pro Pro Met Ala Glu Thr Gly Ser Cy - #s Cys Thr Thr His Ile            #           270                                                                - GCC AAC CAC TCC TAC CTA CCA CTA AGC TAT TG - #G CAG TAGTCCTGAA                862                                                                           Ala Asn His Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Tr - #p Gln                            #       280                                                                    - GGCAGTCCCC ATGCTACTGC AGACCTATAC ATTCCTACAC ACTACCTTAT CC - #ATCGACCT         922                                                                           - CTAGGCCTAG TAAGAGATAG TATGGCCAAA TTAAGAGAGA GACTCACTCA GA - #GACAAAAA         982                                                                           - CTATTTGAGT CGAGCCAAGG ATGGTTCGAA GGATTGTTTA ACAGATCCCC CT - #GGTTTACC        1042                                                                           - ACGTTAATAT CCACCATCAT GGGGCCTCTC ATTATACTCC TACTAATTCT GC - #TTTTTGGA        1102                                                                           - CCCTGCATTC TTAATCGATT AGTTCAATTT GTTAAAGACA GGATCTCAGT AG - #TCCAGGCT        1162                                                                           - TTAGTCCTGA CTCAACAATA CCACCAGCTA AAACCACTAG AATACGAGCC AT - #GA              1216                                                                           - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:21:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 5 amino                                                            (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:21:                                 - Trp Ser Xaa Trp Ser                                                          1               5                                                              - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:22:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 5 amino                                                            (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:22:                                 - Trp Ser Ala Trp Ser                                                          1               5                                                              - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:23:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 5 amino                                                            (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:23:                                 - Trp Ser Ser Trp Ser                                                          1               5                                                              - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:24:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 284 amino                                                          (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: protein                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:24:                                 - Met Ala Cys Ser Thr Leu Pro Lys Ser Pro Ly - #s Asp Lys Ile Asp Pro          #                 15                                                           - Arg Asp Leu Leu Ile Pro Leu Ile Leu Phe Le - #u Ser Leu Lys Gly Ala          #             30                                                               - Arg Ser Ala Ala Pro Gly Ser Ser Pro His Gl - #n Val Tyr Asn Ile Thr          #         45                                                                   - Trp Glu Val Thr Asn Gly Asp Arg Glu Thr Va - #l Trp Ala Ile Ser Gly          #     60                                                                       - Arg Leu Tyr Val Ser Gly Arg Asp Pro Gly Le - #u Thr Phe Gly Ile Arg          # 80                                                                           - Leu Arg Tyr Gln Asn Leu Gly Pro Arg Val Pr - #o Ile Gly Pro Asn Pro          #                 95                                                           - Val Leu Ala Asp Leu Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Al - #a Arg Tyr Ser Leu Gln          #           110                                                                - Leu Arg Ala Arg Leu Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gl - #n Gly Pro Trp Ser Ala          #       125                                                                    - Trp Ser Pro Pro Ala Arg Val Ser Thr Gly Se - #r Glu Thr Ala Trp Ile          #   140                                                                        - Thr Leu Val Thr Ala Leu Leu Leu Val Leu Se - #r Leu Ser Ala Leu Leu          145                 1 - #50                 1 - #55                 1 -        #60                                                                            - Gly Leu Leu Leu Leu Lys Trp Gln Phe Pro Al - #a His Tyr Arg Arg Leu          #               175                                                            - Arg His Ala Leu Trp Pro Ser Leu Pro Asp Le - #u His Arg Val Leu Gly          #           190                                                                - Gln Tyr Leu Arg Asp Thr Ala Ala Leu Ser Pr - #o Ser Lys Ala Thr Val          #       205                                                                    - Thr Asp Ser Cys Glu Glu Val Glu Pro Ser Le - #u Leu Glu Ile Leu Pro          #   220                                                                        - Lys Ser Ser Glu Ser Thr Pro Leu Pro Leu Cy - #s Pro Ser Gln Pro Gln          225                 2 - #30                 2 - #35                 2 -        #40                                                                            - Met Asp Tyr Arg Gly Leu Gln Pro Cys Leu Ar - #g Thr Met Pro Leu Ser          #               255                                                            - Val Cys Pro Pro Met Ala Glu Thr Gly Ser Cy - #s Cys Thr Thr His Ile          #           270                                                                - Ala Asn His Ser Tyr Leu Pro Leu Ser Tyr Tr - #p Gln                          #       280                                                                    - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:25:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 32 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                   #domain of v-mplONE: Extracellular                                             -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:25:                                 - Glu Leu Arg Pro Arg Ala Arg Tyr Ser Leu Gl - #n Leu Arg Ala Arg Leu          #                15                                                            - Asn Gly Pro Thr Tyr Gln Gly Pro Trp Ser Al - #a Trp Ser Pro Pro Ala          #            30                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:26:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 33 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                             (B) CLONE: mIL-3RI                                                   -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:26:                                 - Lys Leu Phe Leu Pro Asn Ser Ile Tyr Ala Al - #a Arg Val Arg Thr Arg          #                15                                                            - Leu Ser Ala Gly Ser Leu Ser Gly Arg Pro Se - #r Arg Trp Ser Pro Glu          #            30                                                                - Val                                                                          - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:27:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 31 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                             (B) CLONE: mIL-3RII                                                  -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:27:                                 - Gln Leu Glu Pro Asp Thr Ser Tyr Cys Ala Ar - #g Val Arg Val Lys Pro          #                15                                                            - Ile Ser Asp Tyr Asp Gly Ile Trp Ser Glu Tr - #p Ser Asn Glu Tyr              #            30                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:28:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 31 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                             (B) CLONE: Murine recep - #tor for EPO (mEPO R)                      -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:28:                                 - Asn Leu Arg Gly Gly Thr Arg Tyr Thr Phe Al - #a Val Arg Ala Arg Met          #                15                                                            - Ala Glu Pro Ser Phe Ser Gly Phe Trp Ser Al - #a Trp Ser Glu Pro              #            30                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:29:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 30 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                             (B) CLONE: Murine recep - #tor for IL-4 (mIL4R)                      -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:29:                                 - Ile Leu Met Ser Gly Val Tyr Tyr Thr Ala Ar - #g Val Arg Val Arg Ser          #                15                                                            - Gln Ile Leu Thr Gly Thr Trp Ser Glu Trp Se - #r Pro Ser Ile                  #            30                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:30:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 31 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                   #of receptor for IL-2 (hIL2R)in                                                -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:30:                                 - Thr Leu Thr Pro Asp Thr Gln Tyr Glu Phe Gl - #n Val Arg Val Lys Pro          #                15                                                            - Leu Gln Gly Glu Phe Thr Thr Trp Ser Pro Tr - #p Ser Gln Pro Leu              #            30                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:31:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 31 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                             (B) CLONE: Human recept - #or for IL-6 (hIL6R)                       -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:31:                                 - Ile His Asp Ala Trp Ser Gly Leu Arg His Va - #l Val Gln Leu Arg Ala          #                15                                                            - Gln Glu Glu Phe Cys Gly Glu Trp Ser Glu Tr - #p Ser Pro Glu Ala              #            30                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:32:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 31 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                             (B) CLONE: Human recept - #or for IL-7 (hIL7R)                       -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:32:                                 - Lys Leu Gln Pro Ala Ala Met Tyr Glu Ile Ly - #s Val Arg Ser Ile Pro          #                15                                                            - Asp His Tyr Phe Lys Gly Phe Trp Ser Glu Tr - #p Ser Pro Ser Tyr              #            30                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:33:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 32 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -    (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                             (B) CLONE: Murine recep - #tor for IL-7 (mIL7R)                      -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:33:                                 - Lys Leu Arg Pro Lys Ala Met Tyr Glu Ile Ly - #s Val Arg Ser Ile Pro          #                15                                                            - His His Asp Tyr Phe Lys Gly Phe Trp Ser Gl - #u Trp Ser Pro Ser Ser          #            30                                                                - (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:34:                                            -      (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                           #acids    (A) LENGTH: 17 amino                                                           (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                 -     (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: peptide                                              -     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:34:                                 - Leu Pro Tyr Xaa Val Arg Val Xaa Phe Gly Tr - #p Ser Glu Trp Ser Pro          #                15                                                            - Glu                                                                          __________________________________________________________________________ 

We claim:
 1. A method for detecting the binding of a molecule to a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, said method comprising the steps of:(a) contacting the molecule with a host cell transformed with a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide, said host cell expressing the polypeptide at the surface of the host cell; and (b) detecting formation of a complex between the molecule and the polypeptide.
 2. A method for detecting the binding of a molecule to a polypeptide encoded by a nucleic acid having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:15, said method comprising the steps of:(a) contacting the molecule with a host cell transformed with the nucleic acid, said host cell expressing a polypeptide encoded by the nucleic acid at the surface of the host cell; and (b) detecting formation of a complex between the molecule and the polypeptide.
 3. A method for detecting the binding to a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:7, said method comprising:(a) contacting the molecule with a host cell transformed with a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide said host cell expressing the polypeptide at the surface of the host cell; and (b) detecting formation of a complex between the molecule and the polypeptide.
 4. A method for detecting the binding of a molecule to a polypeptide, said method comprising:(a) contacting the molecule with a host cell transformed with a first nucleic acid, said first nucleic acid being hybirdizable under highly stringent conditions to the complement of a second nucleic acid having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:15, said first nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide which meets one of the following conditions:(A) when the polypeptide is produced from the genome of the retrovirus MPLV, the polypeptide promotes the proliferation of hematopoietic cell lines in vitro and in vivo; (B) when the polypeptide is produced from the genome of the retrovirus MPLV, the polypeptide promotes cellular differentation of hematopoietic cell lines; (C) the polypeptide acts in vivo as a receptor for a hematopoietic growth factor, either at the level of ligand binding or at the level of signal transmission; or (D) the polypeptide is recognized by antibodies directed against a protein having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, said host cell expressing the polypeptide at the surface of the host cell, and (b) detecting formation of a complex between the molecule and the polypeptide.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the polypeptide encoded by the first nucleic acid acts in vivo as a receptor for a hematopoietic growth factor, either at the level of ligand binding or at the level of signal transmission.
 6. A method for detecting the binding of a molecule to a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:12, said method comprising:(a) contacting the molecule with a host cell transformed with a nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide, said host cell expressing the polypeptide at the surface of the host cell; and (b) detecting formation of a complex between the molecule and the polypeptide. 